Trapped
by kathey'ssis
Summary: When Marco doesn't show up for work, everyone is thinking he's just having a bad day but their first run shows them that his day is much worse than they ever dreamed.
1. Chapter 1

When Marco doesn't show up for work, everyone is thinking he's just having a bad day but their first run shows them that his day is much worse than they ever dreamed.

**Trapped**

One by one the men of A shift drifted into the locker room to change into their uniforms before the start of their shift.

Cap had been the first in as usual and was already in the office getting a report on the last shifts activities before starting on his beginning shift paperwork.

Mike arrived at his usual time and quickly and quietly changed, took the report from the outgoing engineer and then moved on to inspect the engine finishing with plenty of time for a trip to the day room for a fresh cup of coffee and the newspaper there.

Chet was in next, surprisingly early for him. He had woken up suddenly, a good hour and a half before his alarm was set to go off. He was panicked and confused but when he woke up enough to realize he was in his own room at his own apartment he calmed down enough to convince himself it was just a dream. He couldn't remember any dream that would have caused him to be breathing hard and his heart to race as if a call had just come in for him to respond to a ten alarm fire, but that was the only explanation he could come up with. Even though he convinced himself it was just a dream he was still unable to go back to sleep so he gave up and headed out to work early.

Once he dressed in his uniform, Chet found himself sitting alone in the locker room feeling a strange sense of dread and foreboding he just couldn't explain. Unable to find an explanation for his feelings he set about quietly applying a coat of polish to his spare set of boots.

John and Roy came in together, having met in the parking lot when they arrived at nearly the same time. They were talking about the in-service training they had attended on their break and a new treatment technique that was being taught there.

"Hi, Chet," Roy greeted, then without waiting for a response, he opened his locker and went about the business of getting into uniform.

"Good morning, Chet," Johnny said, opening his own locker. The two paramedics continued to talk about the new procedure and the effect it would have on their work, their patients, and the way things were stored in the squad. When they were dressed they walked out of the locker room continuing to talk and seemingly unaware that Chet was still sitting on the bench in front of his locker, looking and feeling like he had just lost his best friend.

When Cap hollered "Roll Call" Chet was startled. He had been so lost in his boot shining and his self analyzing that he had lost track of time.

As if he were responding to the alarm Chet hurried to his place next to his fellow crewmembers to notice they were one team member short.

"Does anyone know where Lopez is?" Captain Stanley asked before starting with the daily business. No one knew the answer and the knot in the pit of Chet's stomach grew ten sizes.

Hank was concerned about his missing man, also. For Chet or Johnny not to be here at the start of roll call was not unusual, but Marco was nearly always at the station in plenty of time to get a Danish and a cup of coffee before the official start of the day. Still everyone has a bad morning once in a while and there was a lot of road construction in the area Marco had moved to a few weeks ago.

Hank proceeded with the morning announcements expecting Marco to arrive with a good excuse for his tardiness before he was finished with the memos from head quarters.

When roll call was finished and the men were slowly scattering to perform their cleaning assignments Hank returned to the office to call his wayward lineman. Pulling his phone list from his desk, he drew his finger down to where Marco Lopez was written and then across. The address had been crossed out and a new one written in pen, then that was crossed out and a new one written in pencil. The same with the phone number listed. Marco had moved three times in a little over six months, it was time to make up a new phone list. It took Hank a minute to decipher his own hand writing made worse by the cramped space he tried to write in and the fact that the pencil mark had smudged a little. The first number he dialed was answered by a drycleaners so he figured that what he had thought was an eight before must be a three. Making that adjustment Hank dialed again this time the line was busy. He waited a few minutes then called again, still busy. Not sure he had the right phone number Hank walked into the dorm where Chet was straitening up and asked him what Marco's phone number was.

Chet pulled a card out of his wallet that had the same scratched out rewritten and then scratched out again appearance.

"Do you know why Marco has moved so many times?" Hank asked as he moved toward the phone in the dorm to make one more attempt to get a hold of his missing man. His dialing was interrupted by the tones blaring.

"**Station 51 car into a building just north of 219****th**** street on the east side of S Figueroa St . North side of 219****th**** street and S Figueroa use the dead end road heading north behind that abandoned school. Time out 8:14."**

The men minus one, piled into their respective emergency response units and pulled out into morning rush hour traffic. From the high riding view point Hank was able to see the car into the building from the heavy traffic on S. Figueroa and was quick to recognize the building as an apartment building. There were already three police cars on sight and Mike was able to follow the squad's lead down an alley and get on sight quickly.

Jumping off of the engine, Hank hurried over to the police officer who was closest to the car.

"What have we got here?"

"Well there's no one in the car," the police officer reported. "We just ran the plates and found that it belongs to a guy who was found wandering the road in a daze several hours ago. Looks kind of like he was having some engine trouble and the car rolled down the hill. We're not getting any response from the apartment. One of the neighbors said the guy who lives here works nights, we're waiting for him to come home now. Boy is he in for a surprise."

"You can say that again." Hank shook his head at the sight before him. The car was half inside one of the units in a rundown apartment building. It had hit in a way to take the wall and just lay it over in its path and it was guessed that the wall was leaning on some furniture inside that was holding not only the wall but the car in a slightly slanted position.

"Engine 51, LA." The handy talky in Hank's pocket went off.

"This is Engine 51, LA, go ahead."

"We are on the phone with a victim at your location. He is trapped in his bedroom and in need of assistance. He is experiencing difficulty breathing and is unable to call out loud enough for you to hear him."

The looks on police and fire fighters both shown with surprise and increased urgency.

"10-4, LA. Tell the victim to just hang on, we're coming in to get him. Can he give us any more information on his condition?" Hank asked for information he thought would help his paramedics.

"He say's to enter through the front door. You'll have to break it down but then you should have easy access to him in the bedroom."

Hank motioned for his men to get whatever gear they thought they'd need and turned to the wreckage in front of him and yelled loudly, "This is the fire department, just hang on and we'll be in to get you in just a minute."

He then joined the rest of his men taking one of the pry bars from Chet as he caught up with them.

The front door had two dead bolts and took a little doing to get it open. First Chet used the ax to punch a hole in the hollow core door then he was able to reach in and unlock the dead bolts and remove the chain. They still had to kick the door in since no one could figure out the door knob's locking mechanism. From there it was a matter of looking around to figure out where the bedroom was. They were able to see a phone cord leading onto a bed under the fallen wall only held in place by the car on top of it.

Putting the handy-talkie to his mouth, Cap spoke, "Engine 51, HT 51, Mike we're going to have to pull that car out. I think with the room we have to move around in out there we better use the squad."

"10-4, Cap, I'll get it hooked up," Mike responded.

Hank moved in behind his paramedics to see if there was anything more that needed to be done on his end to assure no further harm was done to the victim.

While Cap evaluated the scene Johnny crawled under the debris the best he could to try and gain access to his patient.

"Cap!" came the excited call from underneath what was left of the wall, then John backed out just a bit, "Cap, it's Marco. Marco's the one trapped under here. It looks like that front tire is parked on his chest restricting his breathing. Roy I need the oxygen mask."

Roy opened the case that housed the oxygen system and quickly attached a mask to the end of the tubing. Cap then took it from him and crawled in next to his paramedic to check on his, until now, missing lineman.

John was quick to take the mask from him and place it on Marco's face as Marco turned a pleading look toward his captain. There was a laceration on his forehead and little else could be seen of the man. He was under the covers of his bed and the wall was on top of him.

"Well this certainly explains why you were late for work this morning," Hank said, trying to offer up a little humor.

"Sorry, Cap," Marco responded with a breathy whisper of a voice as he struggled to take in the oxygen that he was being given. "I just couldn't get out of bed this morning."

"We'll get you out of here as quickly as we can." Hank reached out and placed a hand on Marco's shoulder.

Before he crawled back out Hank took a good look around, one side of the wall's mostly intact framing was held up by a dresser against one wall and a night stand on the other side of the bed seemed to be the only thing that kept his linemen from being totally crushed.

"What are you going to need, Johnny?" Hank asked as he worked his way back toward more open area to give his paramedic more room to work and to orchestrate the rescue at hand.

"BP cuff, stethoscope and C-collar, right now. We're also going to need a back board and some blankets," Johnny listed as he started to count a pulse. "His pulse is strong," He said to his captain, reassuringly. "We're going to have to get him out of here before I can tell how bad he's hurt."

"I'll see what I can do about expediting that." Hank inched the rest of the way out.

When he was out from under the fallen wall Hank could see that his engineer had the squad backed into place and was now hooking up to the bumper of the car. "Mike, pull that car out as soon as you're ready. If you pull slow and steady you shouldn't cause any further injury."

"I'll be ready in a minute, Cap," Mike reported as he bent down with the rope in his hand.

"How is he, Cap?" Chet asked as he stood waiting for what needed to be done next.

"Johnny says he's got a strong pulse but according to the broken clock on his bed side table, he's been under there for nearly four hours. They're going to need a back board and some blankets."

That was all Chet needed to know before going into action as he ran back through the front door and around the building to get the requested supplies from the squad.

From his vantage point inside the apartment Hank watched Chet hurry to the squad and pull the back board and a couple of blankets from their compartments while Mike tested his knots before hurrying to the squad to start pulling the car off of their friend.

Hank gave the go ahead wave from inside and two police officers directed Mike forward. As the car rolled inch by inch the wall beneath it began to creek. Hank and one of the police officers took hold of the framing and started to hoist it upward as the car rolled away while Roy joined Johnny at Marco's side. Before the car was out of the building Chet had returned with the back board and blankets. Setting them in an easily accessible place Chet then added his muscle to the hefting of the wooden frame as Roy and John were quick to pull loose sheetrock from atop of their friend. Once there was a six inch space above Marco, John and Roy slid the back board under the bottom sheet and using the sheet pulled Marco onto the back board and covered him with a blanket and placed the oxygen tank between his legs before they worked their way between those holding up the wall and out into the living room where Marco was placed on the floor so they could finish their evaluation.

Now that the weight was lifted from his chest Marco found it much easier to breath and soon the oxygen mask felt claustrophobic.

Now that their victim was rescued Hank, Chet and the police officer lowered the wall back onto the bed and retrieved the paramedics' boxes and equipment, carrying them into where they were now needed. The door opened again and Mike hurried in to check on his crewmate.

Marco lay on the back board with a bandage on his head and a soft foam C-collar around his neck. He had been sleeping in his boxers and a t-shirt which Johnny was now lifting so that he could more completely check for broken ribs and internal injuries while Roy was listening to the lungs to make sure both lungs were working properly.

John leaned back on his heals as Roy pulled the stethoscope from his ears and the two men exchanged sighs of relief.

"Marco, man you are one lucky son of a gun." Johnny reported a rendition of his findings, "I think you're going to be black and blue for a few days, but considering you had a car parked on your chest for over four hours I'm sure you know things could have been a lot worse."

"How ya' feelin' there, Marc?" Hank squatted down and placed a hand on his lineman's shoulder.

Marco reached up and pulled the oxygen mask away from his face. "I can breathe better now that you guys got all that weight off my chest. Thanks, guys, for getting me out of there."

"Hey, that's what we do," Chet got a word in edge wise.

"Can you tell me what happened?" The police officer was finally able to get to Marco and tried to get a statement.

"Not really," Marco spoke with his full voice now that he could breathe better. "I just woke up with a head ache and my chest felt like, well it felt like I had a car parked on it and I couldn't catch my breath. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. for the longest time I thought I was having a heart attack. I don't know how long it was before I tried to lift my arms and felt the wall on top of me. When the sun started to come up I was able to see the phone but it took me several tries to get a hold of the cord that was hanging down the side of the night stand. Once I was able to do that I managed to pull the phone to me, but the head set fell off the phone so I had to get a hold of that cord and with one hand pull it toward me before I was able to call for help. I was aware of someone pounding on the door, and then later I could hear you guys outside talking and all but-"

"Say no more there, Marco, we get the picture." Hank gave a glance toward the remains of the bedroom once again.

"I've heard the phrase, 'he never knew what hit him,' before but now I really know what it means," Marco exclaimed as John checked his pupils.

Roy called in the vitals to Rampart and Dr. Early ordered and IV TKO just as a precaution then Marco was lifted by the backboard he was on to a gurney and rolled to the ambulance.

As the gurney was rolled out of the apartment, Cap remembered the packed duffel bag and clothes laid out on the chair they moved out of the bedroom during the extrication. He quickly collected them and handed them to Roy to take along to the hospital just in case Marco was released. He knew he would need to be dressed in something more than his underwear when he left the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hurry Up and Wait**

Once the ambulance pulled away and the squad followed, Hank began to retrieve whatever equipment was still lying around and while he did so he took a good look around. To say the apartment was run down was an understatement. The linoleum in the bathroom and kitchenette was worn thin in multiple places as was the carpeting throughout, especially along traffic pathways. Tiles were missing in the shower and the enamel in the sink and tub were worn down and rust was showing.

The place was clean, well as clean as it could be after a car crashed through the wall but there was a real need for a fresh coat of paint and there was very little in the way of furniture. What was there looked to be second hand probably from a nearby thrift store.

As they were climbing back on the engine Hank took a hold of Chet's arm to get his attention. "Do you know if Marco is having financial problem? I just asked because I thought he should be able to afford a nicer place than that on his firefighter's income."

"I don't think he was planning to stay here very long." Chet let his captain know what had been talked about between the two of them. "I know he moved in a hurry from his last place because there were a lot of fire code violations. He turned them in to the authorities and when they found out they made his life miserable. Once he was certain they didn't plan to do anything to fix the problems and make the place safer he moved out as quickly as he could and advised the rest of the tenants to do the same. I think he just took the first open apartment he could find at the time."

Hank took a good look around the small apartment complex. As run down as it was it also looked as if every other apartment was occupied. Maybe he'd wait a while to redo the phone and address list for his crewmen. It was pretty certain that his lineman would be moving again real soon.

-0-

Marco was grateful to have the wall and car off of his chest but he had to admit the board he was now strapped to was nowhere near as comfortable as his mattress. As he squirmed against the restraints trying to find a comfortable position, Johnny checked his vitals and listened to his chest again.

"How ya hanging in there Marco?" Johnny questioned after he pulled the stethoscope ear pieces from his ears.

"Board's not very comfortable," Marco answered his friend. He had been so happy that it was his team that responded to his rescue. Even though he was now free he was still feeling anxious.

"I hear ya," Johnny responded with a comforting grin for his friend. "Just hang in there and we'll get you to Rampart and then see what we can do to get you off of that thing."

Marco gave a nod of his head against the foam collar around his neck. "Chest is still a little tight," he admitted. "Not as easy to breathe as it should be."

Johnny remained outwardly calm but Marco had seen that look of controlled concern before, many times before.

John gave Marco's chest another listen with the stethoscope, this time sliding the stethoscope inside of his t-shirt to make sure he was hearing his best.

"Okay, Marco, I don't hear anything to worry about right now but I'm going to let Rampart know and see what they want me to do." John picked up the hand set to the Bio-phone and repeated Marco's complaint to Dr. Morton on the other end of the radio waves.

Dr. Morton gave the recorded vital signs and notes the nurse had taken another quick glance before ordering an EKG Strip.

Marco could feel his heart speed up a little as John slapped the sticky patches on his chest and then worked the wires under his t-shirt before picking up the hand set again "Okay, Rampart, this is lead two."

For a few moments there were only sounds of the sirens and the ambulance working over bumpy roads and unyielding traffic. Finally, Dr. Morton's voice came back. "It looks good, 51, what's your ETA?"

Marco sighed with relief as John told the doctor that they were just two minutes away. John then placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hang in there Marco we're just about there and then we'll see about getting you off of that board."

They had no sooner moved Marco over to the treatment table in Treatment Room one when a nurse made short work of cutting his t-shirt up the middle and down each arm to get it out of their way. John was then able to get a better view of the bruising on his friend's chest but he had seen it before just in smaller patches at a time, not all at once.

Roy arrived and carried Marco's clothes and duffel bag in, he joined Johnny and the doctor in the hallway as they waited for x-rays to be taken. Johnny was filling in the doctor in more detail about the conditions in which they had found their friend, including the broken clock that indicated he'd been there for over four hours.

The two paramedics stayed around the hospital longer than they would have for any other patient but before the x-rays were returned and the exam finished they were called out on another run.

-0-

Back at the station Hank's first order of business was to call in a replacement for his lineman. He then had to dive into the paperwork to explain why he needed a replacement so that Marco wouldn't get into any kind of trouble with headquarters. He was reminding himself for the umpteenth time that Marco had looked good when they loaded him in the ambulance. His vitals were good and he was joking with them. Still he was eager for his paramedics to return with word of what the doctors found and how they thought he was.

Hank was less than pleased when he heard his paramedics being called out on another run before they returned to the station.

Resolving himself to the wait at hand, Hank turned his thoughts once again to the condition of the apartment his lineman was living in. He silently vowed to do what he could to help him find a more suitable place to move into next.

-0-

By the time John and Roy returned to the hospital with their next patient Marco had been removed from his back board. He was now wearing a hospital gown and resting in a bed with the head slightly raised making it a little easier for him to breath. Something mild had been given to him for his pain but it was confirmed that he had a concussion and that nothing was broken he was just totally black and blue. They would be keeping him in the hospital for at least twenty four hours to monitor his breathing and his concussion. While John and Roy were there with him they helped him make a phone call to his mother to let her know he was in the hospital but was going to be fine. At least they were sure he said something like that, Marco spoke in Spanish the whole time.

When they finally returned to the station John and Roy were not at all surprised to be quickly surrounded by the rest of the crew wanting information on their friend. Once a report was given on the extent of Marco's injuries, Chet let them in on the situation in Marco's mother's home. A younger brother had gotten married and was expecting a child but didn't have the means to get a place of his own. Marco had moved out so that the young couple could have the room he and his brother once shared and now if he were to go back the only place for him to sleep would be on the sofa.

When John and Roy stopped by to check on Marco latter that day they brought the offer of five different guest rooms to stay in until he was able to find another place to live.

The rest of the shift was busy. John and Roy had managed to stop in and check on Marco once more before visiting hours were over but they found his mother and sister with him so they kept their visit short.

There had been a late night warehouse fire that drained every ounce of energy the men had in them but when they arrived back at the station after their shift was over they all went to the hospital to visit with Marco.

When they walked into the hospital room they found Marco dressed and moving very slowly to get his socks on before putting on his shoes. It was clear with one look that Marco was stiff and sore and movement was not something he wanted to do but he was moving very slowly, but moving all the same.

Chet knelt on the floor and unceremoniously put Marco's shoes on for him and tied them.

"You look like your getting out of here," Cap commented as he watched the obviously painful motion of his lineman.

"Yeah," Marco responded, his gratitude for not having to bend over and tie his own shoes outweighing his embarrassment at needing help to get dressed. "The insurance adjuster from the guy who's car crashed into my apartment called this morning. He's going to go by my apartment to look at the damages. If I can get there before he leaves he'll give me a check to cover the damages, otherwise I'll have to wait until the check comes in the mail. Since I don't currently have a place to live I have no idea how long it might take for the check to catch up with me." Marco grimaced as he tried to get to his feet only to have Mike nudge him back into a seated position on the bed. "Also the landlord said if I'll get all my stuff out and move my truck today he'll refund all of this month's rent and since the damage done to the apartment isn't my fault he'll refund the cleaning deposit too."

The men knew what was needed now so while Mike, Cap and Chet kept Marco sitting on his hospital bed, John and Roy went to see about his release papers and a wheelchair. They found that Dr. Morton was well aware of the urgency in Marco's need to get out. They also learned that he had a mild case of inflammation in the lining around his lungs and needed to take it easy for a few days.

"He's not in any real danger, but he is going to feel pretty stiff and sore for a few days until those bruises heal up a little," Dr. Morton explained to John and Roy. "I sure wouldn't want to be trying to move right now if I were him but it's not like he has a whole lot of options."

John and Roy returned to their friend's room with a nurse carrying Marco's release papers and his pain medications and the wheelchair to move him out. As tired as everyone was, Roy and John had managed to get them informed of Marco's needs and once Marco was loaded into Chet's wagon the rest of the crew followed them back to what was left of Marco's apartment.

The manager was there talking with the insurance adjustor when they arrived, it was clear by what little they overheard that the manger was much more interested in his own benefits than that of Marco's but then when they really thought about it, what more could they expect.

Marco was able to walk through his apartment with the insurance adjustor and his fellow crew mates at his side. The first thing that was obvious was that the place had been looted after the firemen had left. Much of the furniture and kitchen appliances, as little as there were, were now gone. The bedroom was pretty much untouched by looters but what was there was also damaged beyond repair.

Marco was lead to the seat of a car to finish negotiating with the insurance adjuster and his landlord with Mike at his side to keep the guy from taking advantage of Marco while he wasn't feeling well. The rest of the guys got whatever else they could out of the ram shackled apartment and started loading it into one of the two trucks that were backed up to the now completely removed front door. John and Chet managed to move some heavy debris out of the way so that they could get to the bedroom closet and pulled all of Marco's clothes out as well as anything he had stored on the shelves there and loaded it all in the back of Chet's wagon.

The rest of Marco's remaining possessions were easily rearranged into the back of his pick up. One over stuffed arm chair, two kitchen type chairs, mismatched, one small kitchen table, two end tables along with a few dishes, pots and pans and a toaster were pretty much all that was left. The lamps that had been on the end tables were gone when they arrived at the apartment and so was the TV and the coffee maker. The power had been cut to his apartment when the car crashed through the wall so everything in the refrigerator was deemed spoiled.

Hank and the men were able to testify that those things had been there when they left the day before. When Hank mentioned that he could get several police officers to confirm his statement the landlord agreed to throw in an extra couple hundred dollars to reimburse Marco for the missing items. He admitted that it took him longer to secure the premises than he hoped it would.

With two checks in hand, Marco was returned to Chet's wagon and taken to the bank to deposit his checks before someone decided to cancel them. And then, without preamble, Marco was taken to Chet's place and with the help of John and Roy guided to the extra bedroom and after given his pain pills was tucked in bed, no argument accepted.

Once Marco had succumbed to the pain medication and was asleep the rest of his crewmates and captain gathered around his truck to secure a cover over the last of the man's possessions.

"I can keep this in my garage to keep him from being ripped off any more until he can find another place to live," Cap offered.

"There's an empty apartment in my building," Mike responded, "I'll talk to the landlord and tell him I have a friend who needs it."

"There's one in my apartment building too," Johnny added, "They give me a discount on my rent because I'm a fireman and a paramedic, they like it that I can help out with some of the other residents."

"Well it sounds like Marco will have a choice to make," Roy tried to diffuse any argument that might surface. After all it was Marco's choice where he wanted to live.

"It sounds to me like either one of those choices are better than the place he just left." Hank sighed in relief before turning to the quiet Chet. "When he wakes up tell him that I have some extra furniture in my basement he can have. There's a queen sized bed and a sofa for sure, I can't remember for sure what else we've put in that corner of the basement but if he can use it I know my wife would like to get it cleared out."

Feeling as if they had done all they could do, they all headed home while Chet hung his head low and walked back into his apartment. His gut still filled with guilt at the thought that his friend had lay trapped with a car on his chest for over four hours before help arrived. If only he had understood the feeling that had awakened him in a panic; he had long ago figured it to be about the same time Marco must have woken up to realize he was trapped.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Hidden Explanation**

For two days Marco was waited on hand and foot, if he got out of bed for any other reason than to visit the bathroom, Chet questioned why. It was the second day when Chet sat down and apologized for not responding to the physic message he had received.

The apology did as much for Chet as anything. Once he listened to himself telling Marco how sorry he was for not rushing over to his apartment when he woke up with a start and couldn't figure out why, he realized how lame his feelings of guilt really were. Marco still offered a forgiveness of sorts in the form of a good laugh and a slap on the shoulder. Chet still brought him dinner in bed.

While Marco rested he also received visits from his mother and sister, both of whom brought lots of food and thanked Chet for letting Marco stay with him. Mike and Johnny also visited, each with the information Marco needed to check out the empty apartments in their buildings written on small pieces of paper. On the third day Marco noticed that he didn't hurt as much, it was easier to breath and he spent longer than before in the shower. He also dressed in something other than his pajamas and sat at the table with Chet to eat lunch. Moving with actual comfort Marco managed to climb in his truck which had been parked in Chet's car port and drove to the two addresses that had been given him.

"You're the friend Mike Stoker told me about?" The manager greeted Marco when he knocked on the door to inquire about the available apartment. He was allowed to see the place which was a two bedroom and so much nicer than he thought he could ever get. he wasn't surprised when the rent required was twice what he could afford on his income. Nor was he surprised by the sneer in the manager's face when he told him the price to move in.

His next stop was Johnny's apartment building. Afraid of the response he would get there Marco was careful not to walk by Johnny's apartment on his way to the manager's apartment. His knock on the manager's door was first answered by a women who looked at Marco while he explained that he had been told of an apartment for rent, because he hoped it would make a difference he did tell them that he was a friend and coworker of another of their tenants, John Gage.

"Just a minute I'll get my husband," the woman told him and the door was shut. Marco was left standing in front of the door for what he felt was an unreasonable length of time and then he noticed the drapes being pulled back to get a good look at him before the door was opened once again. It was no surprise what so ever when he heard the woman's husband say:

"I'm sorry but the last available apartment we had just rented yesterday, the people should be moving in this weekend."

Marco was on his way back to his truck still loaded with what was left of his belongings when Johnny pulled in to the parking lot. Happy to see his friend Johnny quickly parked in another of the visitor's parking spaces and hurried to Marco's side.

"Hey, you're up and about." Johnny shook hands with his crewmate. "Looks like you've just come from the manager's apartment, did you like the place? Do you need some help getting moved in?"

"I guess I lay around at Chet's place too long, they rented the apartment out yesterday."

-0-

The next day they were all back on shift, everyone was sorry to see Marco's truck in the parking lot still filled with his belongings and covered with a tarp, but they were happy to see Marco in the locker room pulling on his uniform. After roll call and completing chores the team gathered in the day room for a cup of coffee and found Marco sitting at the table going over the apartments section of the classifieds. Everyone started looking over his shoulder and pointing out an add here and there that they thought he should consider.

"That one requires references," Marco commented about several, someone who turns their landlord in for fire code violations is not the kind of person they want to rent to. "That's really bigger than I need," he responded to the next add that was pointed out to him.

"Don't worry, Chet, if I don't find anything these next days off I'll move back in with my mother." Marco was responding to the frustrated look on Chet's face.

"No, that's okay, there's no hurry, Marco, you can stay with me as long as you need to." Chet spoke quickly, "let's just work on getting you a place you'll feel good about staying in for a while."

When they were off shift, Marco started out with the classified section of the paper in his hands and telling Chet not to worry if he didn't show up before late.

Johnny went home and after pulling into his parking stall sat in his truck for a while and explored some troubling thoughts. He then walked around his apartment complex and took in the three apartments that were vacant and noticed no sign of anyone moving in. He did however notice the new couple moving out. Tony Martin had just gotten married five months ago. His wife was a beautiful Polynesian woman who was somewhat shy and bashful but Johnny had been able to tell the first moment he saw them that they were madly in love with each other.

"Looks like you're moving out," Johnny commented as he took a heavy looking box from the woman and set it on the dolly they had placed at the bottom of the steps into their apartment. "Are we in need of a bigger apartment now?" John speculated with a smile on his face, "something with a place for a nursery?"

"NO, no, not yet," Tony gave Johnny a frustrated and slightly annoyed look, "they chose not to renew our lease here, I guess it's for the best; I managed to find a place closer to work. There's a nice big park next to it. It's really nice."

"Is there any other openings there?" Johnny asked with Marco in mind, a nice big park would be great to have next door for when he wanted to have a picnic with all of his relatives.

"Sorry, it's a duplex and the owner lives in the other side."

Johnny pitched in and helped the couple load their belongings into a rented truck but as he helped them stuff things inside he also took a good long look at the other people in his apartment complex. For the first time he really paid attention to the people living around him. He then focused in on what he remembered Mike mumbling after Marco had told him how much they wanted for the apartment in his building.

"I better start looking for a place to live if that's what they're going to raise my rent too when my lease is up."

As Johnny thought he was pretty sure Mike's rent wasn't going to be raised, and on the outside chance that it was it would not be raised anywhere near the amount Marco had been told.

-0-

When Marco pulled up in front of Chet's place he parked where he could see his truck from Chet's apartment. Chet watched out the window and could tell by the look on his friends face that he hadn't found any place to live and also noticed that his truck was empty. Marco had talked about renting a storage unit to put his stuff in so that he didn't look so desperate when he visited places to rent.

Chet knew he had unloaded the stuff from his truck by himself and after what Johnny had told him he was sure his friend felt lower than a snake's belly.

"No luck, huh," Chet greeted as he pulled the door open for his friend and welcomed him in.

"No." Marco hung his head, "I don't want to be a burden to you any longer; I'll just get my clothes and go to my mother's place until I can find a place."

"If you're going to be able to back me up on the hose you need to be well rested when you show up at the station and you can't do that sleeping on your mother's sofa." Chet was well prepared for his friend's eventual arrival. "Now I don't want to hear about you leaving until you find a place that is suitable for someone of your gainful employment and high standing in the community." Chet led his friend into the kitchen. "I've warmed up some of those Enchiladas your mom brought over. I bet you're starving, did you even eat any lunch?"

Marco was enticed into the kitchen by the smell of his mother's cooking and as soon as he stepped through the door the news paper he was holding in his hand was snatched by another friend hiding out of sight.

Johnny stood there looking at the paper he had just grabbed from Marco's hands and wasn't in the least surprised by the number of crossed out ads on the page. Notes of 'too much', 'just rented' littered the page, Johnny noticed one marked, 'wrong color,' and wondered if the landlord had actually had the gall to say that to Marco's face or if Marco just wrote in what he knew was the real reason he wouldn't be allowed to rent there.

There was one ad that wasn't crossed out but rather had a question mark placed next to it. John looked the ad over carefully and recognized the place.

"Marco, you don't want to live there, we get two or three calls a month to that apartment building. Drug overdoses, gang fights, beaten wives, abused kids, you don't want to live there."

Marco hung his head, it was true he didn't want to live there but he wasn't wanted anywhere he wanted to live. "I can't stay here forever. What will Chet's neighbors think?"

"Who cares what they think," Chet responded as he pulled a chair away from the table for his friend while Johnny placed a hand in the middle of his back and guided him to sit down. Chet placed warmed comfort food in front of him and a fork in his hand and everyone ate their fill.

Being fed did wonders for Marco's mood, when the food was finished Chet moved the dishes to the sink and then sat back down at the table where Johnny placed another classified section out on the table for Marco to look at. This wasn't the section of rentals but of houses for sale.


	4. Chapter 4

**Seeing Things for What They Are**

Hank arrived at the station for his next shift extra early. In fact he was there before the wake up tones for the proceeding shift sounded. When Captain Tollins wandered into the office with a fresh cup of coffee to finish his shift's paperwork he was surprised to see his relief sitting there looking over a report from the police department concerning a run the station had responded to.

Ron Tollins could quickly tell two things; one that it had been a bad run, and two that the police report had been requested. Police reports were not routinely sent to the fire station they were requested by the captain if there was something that happened that they needed to add the information to the files, usually to protect one or more of the firemen on the responding crew from legal actions further down the line.

"You're here extra early this morning." Ron placed his untouched cup of coffee in front of his friend before sitting on the corner of the desk. Motioning toward the police report, "must have been a bad one, wan' a talk about it?"

Hank sat up and blew out a deep breath, he did want to talk about it and of all the people he could talk to about it he knew his African American counterpart would be one of the few who would understand.

"It was a couple of shifts ago. I called for roll call and was one man short. No one knew anything and he's never been late once since I've been his captain so I didn't worry much about it, just figured he'd be in any minute with a good explanation. You know, flat tire on the way in or stopping to help someone else with a flat tire, that sort of thing. Once roll call was done and he still wasn't here I did the obligatory phone call, that's when I realized he's had three different addresses in the last five months. I finally figured out what his current phone number was but when I called all I got was a busy signal. A few minutes later we got toned out; the call was for a car in a building. When we arrived at the address the police were already there and told us that the car's license plates matched up with a guy that was found wandering a nearby highway several hours earlier and that they were sure the occupant of the apartment was still at work. That's when dispatch radioed in telling us that there was someone trapped in the building but that he couldn't breathe enough to call out so that we could hear him. He gave direct instructions on the safest and best way to get to him and when we did it was my missing lineman."

"I heard about that, Lopez right?"

"Yeah, it was Marco Lopez alright. When I climbed under that collapsed wall to see for myself, he said something like, 'sorry I'm late for work but I just couldn't get out of bed." Hank cracked a grin at his counterpart and then nearly broke down in tears, nearly, but none were actually shed. "Then I turned and noticed the broken alarm clock at the side of the bed and I nearly got sick." Hank shook his head and anger started to rear up. "He'd been there in that trapped condition for over four hours and no one came to his aid! NO ONE EVEN BOTHERED TO CALL FOR HELP!"

Hank tossed one report that he had been reading onto the desk near his friend, "According to this report no less than eight people admitted that they heard the car crash into the building but none of them called it in. No one bothered to call and report it until they thought the manager would be awake and then someone called him because the crash had knocked out the power in their bathroom.

"As quoted right there in that police report, 'I heard the crash but I was in the middle of enjoying myself with my lady', 'yeah I heard the crash but I needed my sleep, I had to get up early to go to work, I can't not sleep and do what I need to do to keep my job.' Along with three more reports that simply said it wasn't their problem, they figured the guy who lived there must be at work or he would have called it in himself. No one even bothered to notice that his truck was still parked in his assigned parking stall!" Hank's voice rose as he stood up and walked around his desk.

Ron got up and shut the office door before returning to silently sit on the corner of the desk allowing his friend and fellow Captain to pull himself together. Two laps around the office and Hank stepped up to the desk again looking Tollins in the eyes. "After we pulled him out of that place I looked around; I've seen fleabag hotels that were better maintained than that place. When I asked my other lineman if he knew why Marco wasn't living in a place a little nicer he told me that Marco had turned in the last place he lived for fire code violations. After that, he had to move quickly when the owner turned on him; he just moved into the first apartment he could find."

Hank tossed the second report from his hands down on the desk on top of the one he'd thrown down before. "Since then, there have been two fires at his old apartment building and the owner claimed Marco came back and started both of them because he wouldn't give him his cleaning deposit back." Hank finally sat down with a huff. "Marco was cleared of both. One he was out of state with his soccer team the other he was working overtime on the other side of the county. Fire inspector states that the cause of both fires was faulty wiring and sighted multiple other fire code violations still present."

There was nothing said for a few minutes as Hank pulled into his professional self and Ron just waited for him to say more. Ron knew what he needed most was to get his anger out of his system and that the best thing he could do right now is just listen.

Hank started talking again. "Marco's staying with Chet for the time being. His place was looted after we left so everything he owns fits easily into the back of his truck. Some of the other guys told him about openings in their apartment complexes but when Marco checked on them, one claimed the apartment had just been rented, which I have my doubts about and the other quoted him outrageous move in costs plus a monthly rent that was twice what my other crewmember is paying."

"You're thinking this is because he's a Latino?" Ron didn't beat around the bush, he too could see the writing on the wall.

"Do you think I'm wrong?" Hank turned the question back at one person he knew would understand better than he did.

Ron simply lowered his head while shaking it negatively. "You planning to file a grievance against the rental agencies?"

"I'll admit I'm thinking about it. Marco is a good man; he shouldn't have to put up with this kind of shit."

"You're right, Hank, he shouldn't, but I'm going to advise you against filing the grievance."

"Why?" Hank turned a shocked and angry look to his friend.

"Because it will only do more harm than good." Ron ran his finger in some pattern on the desk top. "Because in the end it won't do anything for your man and he'll still have trouble getting into a nice apartment building. The rental agencies will simply tighten up their own protocol to cover themselves without having to let him and his kind move in and withdraw any of the perks they offer to other firefighters and police officers to get them to move in and help make their property safer."

Ron stood and pulled up another chair and sat in it, moving so the two men were face to face. "The best way I can explain my feelings on the grievance thing is to tell you a story.

"Years ago when I had just graduated from the fire academy and gotten married, I was like Marco, couldn't find a decent place that would let me rent there. I knew it was because of the color of my skin but was determined to do the best I could for my new wife and soon to arrive child. I wanted to raise my child in a neighborhood where I didn't have to worry if the guy next door was going to try and deal him drugs or get him to join a gang.

I had a fire captain at the time that had a mother-in-law apartment that he rented out to me and it was a real nice place to bring my newborn daughter to. And then my wife got pregnant a second time and well, the one bedroom apartment just wasn't big enough. When I started looking for a bigger place I was reminded why I had moved in with my captain in the first place. Well I came up with a plan that I figured would solve not only my problem but that of others like me so I found and with the help of both of our parents managed to buy a small apartment building, just six two bedroom apartments, no swimming pool or anything like that. It needed some work but being a fireman you had days off at a time which was plenty of time to paint the walls and fix things up. Before my second daughter was born I had the place looking real nice, three of the six apartments filled and then my small family in one of the others. The first black guy that came along, I didn't ask any questions, I just showed him the available apartments and even offered to help him move in. A month later not only was he late with his rent but the police broke the door in to serve an arrest warrant and the window was broken out when he shot back at them. Not only was I out the rent and the cost of repairing the place, two of my most respected and reliable tenants moved out because they didn't want to live in a place where the police would be crashing in or where they might get shot. I got things fixed up and then two Latino families moved in. Trouble there was that they always had house guests. Most of the time those two apartments were wall to wall sleeping bags, and they weren't always good about cleaning up their cigarette butts and empty beer cans and bottles. I'd pick up when I was off duty but when I was on duty, my wife was busy with two little girls and well she wasn't too keen on being around those people, they were always drunk and speaking in Spanish. The men would come on to her and well it wasn't a place she wanted to be living either. Those two families got behind on the rent and then just up and moved out while I was at work one shift. When I went in to clean up the apartments so I could rent them again they were like pig sties. Other renters started to move out and soon the only ones that came were renters who didn't stay long, were unwanted while they were there, and left the place in a shambles when they left. One of the worst was a fellow firefighter who, after his wife left him, got drunk and punched a hole in every wall of the apartment." Ron paused for a moment and made sure he had Hank's full attention.

"We all know it's out there, and we all know that people with darker skin, and who speak Spanish tend to cause some of the worst there is. I don't like it but I had to start asking for references before I rented any other apartments, it didn't take long after that that the only ones I rented to were white, employed husband and wife families. Those of my own kind just couldn't seem to come up with the references I was asking for. But I also put a lot less time and money into fixing the place up again and had a lot less turn over. After losing money for three years I was finally making enough to pay mine and Nicole's parents back the loans they extended to us to start the place up and then when the housing market turned a few years back I was thrilled to get out from under the place and move into our own home. No more being treated like the servant at the beck and call of the resident who dropped her ring down the drain, or having to run to unstop the toilet at four in the morning.

"The thing of it is that there are people of my skin color and Lopez's Spanish speaking that are not good renters. Some of them are good people, have good jobs but the heritage they come from and the social interactions with their own kind is not necessarily the kind of behavior that makes for good renters or good neighbors. Take the Latino's for instance, they are always having big family get-togethers, and I mean 'BIG' family get-togethers. Whenever you get that many people in one place things get broken, when the bathrooms are in use they do their business in the bushes, and so on and so forth.

"I think you're right. Marco is a great guy, and I'm sure he'd never do anything like that. But what about all of his cousins that will come over for the party to celebrate him moving into a new apartment, how will they behave?"

Hank looked at his counterpart and sighed, the man was right, like it or not the man was right. Hank had met some of Marco's family. His mother and father were like him, hard working respectable people, so was his sister, but when they were all gathered around at the last firemen's picnic Hank had been aware of Marco taking more than a few car keys away from some of his cousins who were less that able to drive safely.

"Do you have any suggestions of how we can make things better for Marco?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Daring to Reach**

Johnny and Chet had talked with Marco into the early hours of the morning. Then Johnny was convinced to crash on the sofa until it was time to go to the station for their shift.

When Morning came rather than try to take turns through Chet's shower they pushed Marco into the Johnny's Rover and headed for the station to shower there before climbing into their uniforms. As was prearranged Johnny slipped Chet some money before he left and Chet stopped to get take out breakfasts for the three of them on his way to the station. While he waited for his turn in the shower Chet inhaled his breakfast and placed John and Marco's in the oven to stay warm. Once Marco and John were dressed in their uniform they retrieved their breakfast and so they wouldn't be eating in front of anyone else they slipped out back and sat on a bench there to eat.

Chet wasn't sure why Johnny wanted to some private time with Marco but he consented to let him have it. Once he was showered and dressed he headed for the day room and just kept his eye on the door.

"Marco," Johnny spoke with his mouth full of the food he was trying to eat before anyone else joined them. "I've been in the same place you are before, trust me I understand how you're feeling. Before I moved to California there were times I couldn't get a place either. See where I come from being half Native American isn't cool. Neither side wants to have anything to do with you. I was either too white or too Native American. The summer before I moved to LA I had to live in the back of my truck and had to shower in truck stops or bathe in a stream. That's why I bought that old camper when I decided to move out here because I expected it to be the same everywhere."

"So what are you trying to tell me," Marco wasn't ready to have this conversation and was starting to take his frustration out on the only person that was there to let it out on. "Are you suggesting that I should pack up and move to another state leave my family and friends and never look back?" Marco's voice was rising and as much as he was trying to hide it his voice was also displaying his hopelessness.

John just sat quietly waiting for Marco to settle down and as he knew he would, because he had worked with Marco for several years now, Marco did calm down and turned to John, "I'm sorry I shouldn't be yelling at you."

"You need to yell at someone and if you feel better after yelling at me, then yell, I can take it."

Slowly Marco sat down and locked his hands in his lap. When he didn't say a word Johnny spoke softly, "the thing of it is Marco, when I told you about living in the back of my truck and having to bathe in a stream. All my life I got that kind of treatment from the people around me, my teachers, the town folks, everyone I ever came in contact with, but my parents were quick to tell me that I was better than those people that kept putting me down and that whatever I did in my life I needed to make sure I never let myself become the person the others said I was. Dad and Mom both made it clear that the most important thing I could ever do was bathe, however and wherever I could but on a regular basis."

Marco smiled at his friend, somehow he knew what he was trying to say and that he wasn't suggesting that he go take another shower but he couldn't resist his next comment. "Are you suggesting I go take another shower? I'm not sure I'd make it to roll call if I did that."

John didn't respond he knew he didn't need to. The two men cleaned up the remains of their breakfast and were found standing in line for roll call as the rest of the crew filed out of the day room.

Hank was still sorting through all his fellow captain had said to him and as he looked over each of his men he noticed Marco seemed to be rather contemplative as well.

Once roll call was completed and the men were going about their cleaning chores of the morning, Hank called Marco into the office for a little chat.

"How's it going in the apartment hunting department?" Hank started right in.

"Not having a whole lot of success yet." Marco hung his head, "there was one I could have moved into last night but it wasn't really a place I wanted to live." Marco gave his captain the piece of information he knew would be the only explanation he needed to understand, Marco told him the address.

"I'm sure glad you didn't move in there," Hank like Johnny the night before recognized the address well, "you'd have to work endless overtime just to get a break from that place."

There was more that Hank wanted to say to his lineman but the tones interrupted their conversation as they were called out to a structure fire. The address given was to a place that they already knew to be in a rather rundown neighborhood in their response area.

When they arrived the back porch area of the house was fully involved and two men were off in a corner of the yard pampering burns to their hands and one had burns to his face. John and Roy were quickly at their side evaluating their injuries and medical needs as Marco and Chet jumped into action. Marco pulling the reel line and running in to make the first attack on the fire while Chet ran a hose back to the hydrant and Mike made quick work of hooking the line to the engine and then signaling for Chet to turn the water on. Captain Stanley was directing the next two trucks into the area one coming from the opposite direction was dropping their hose as Marco opened up the reel line and started making progress on the flames that were licking at the side of the house. The cause of the fire was clearly a raging charcoal barbeque set up on the back patio and the first things that were suspected were way too much starter fluid and the barbeque being set up too close to the house.

From his point of view Marco could see the broken tequila bottles in the top of the grill and was sure the cooks of the day were less than totally sober.

Within seconds Chet was at Marco's side with the two and a half inch hose charging as two other firefighters were coming around the opposite side of the house with another two and a half inch hose charging. Since the two and a half inch hoses had definitely superior fire fighting power, once Chet's line was charged Marco shut his reel line off and moved over to help Chet manhandle the power in his hose.

Just as Marco shut off the reel line he heard the sound of a crying child coming from the open window above the flames, he quickly and without a second thought slapped Chet on the shoulder and drew his attention to the sound before announcing, "There's someone in there." He held for just a second as Chet leaned into the hose so as to be able to manhandle it on his own and then Marco was gone, through the back door and up the stairs.

"There's people inside," Chet called to John and Roy who were leading three men toward the squad for treatment.

Roy took over with the men and Johnny broke away entering the house just seconds behind Marco as Roy hurried his charges around the house so that he could inform Cap of the need for more manpower inside.

When Johnny got inside and found the steps to the upstairs rooms he was able to follow Marco's voice to the room where he was needed. He had no idea what was being said because Marco was speaking in Spanish but he could tell that there was an air of panic, and that Marco was trying to calm someone down enough to do as he was telling them to do. There was also some coughing; the smoke was starting to get to them.

Once in the room Johnny found two cribs and in them were four small children under the age of three, there was also a woman he guessed to be in her fifties and another girl around eight.

Johnny quickly scooped up two of the small children from one crib while turning to Marco, "is there anyone else in here?"

Marco shook his head no as he scooped up the two toddlers from the other crib and instructed for the young girl to go with Johnny. He then turned to the woman and continued to speak in Spanish, Johnny knew just enough to know his bilingual friend was asking the woman to hold onto his arm and follow him down the stairs.

Since the firemen arrived early and the fire was being quickly contained the passage down the stairs was clear except for the smoke, because Marco was doing a lot of talking to keep the woman at his side moving he was also breathing in a lot of that smoke. Johnny's charge was moving much faster than Marco's so he easily reached the front door while Marco was still only half way down the stairs. Opening the door he was greeted by four other firemen all in full gear and air masks in place. The young girl he had, up till then, been hurrying to keep up with took one look at the firemen in the gear and got frightened, she turned and started to head back into the house put one of the firemen hurried past Johnny and grabbed her hauling her out the door as she screamed and kicked at her rescuer. The next firefighter took hold of Johnny's elbow and helped him along with the other two small children in his arms as they moved toward the squads parked side by side with three yellow blankets spread out between them.

The next two geared up firemen hurried to Marco's side as he reached the bottom of the stairs. The woman at his side was scooped up into one fireman's arms as Marco assured her in her native language that she was safe around his coughing. He then felt the next fireman place his arms around Marco to give him support as he fought to keep from coughing, and helped him and the children he held out the door and over to the squads.

As soon as they reached the yellow blankets the children were taken from Marco's arms as he tried to cough up all of the smoke he had taken in and replace it with the air he was in need of. Four paramedics were busy evaluating all of the victims he and Johnny had gotten out as well as the three men who were found in the back yard when they arrived. Placing nasal cannula in their noses to help them with the oxygen they needed as they tried to calm the frightened children. They didn't seem as frightened now that the firemen around them were removing their face masks and looked a little less like creatures from outer space. One of the firemen removed his mask and quickly placed it over Marco's face.

"Take a deep breath and get some air in those lungs pall, you must have taken in a hell of a lot of smoke in there." The fireman at his side said as he held the mask in place.

Hank quickly arrived with Marco's tank and mask so the firemen at his side could get back to getting the fire out. With so many patients the oxygen set ups from all three engines and both squads were in use so Marco made due with his mask. Still he had to pull it away from his face frequently to translate between the patients and the paramedics and to help calm the patients. Captain Stanley noticed that Marco's bilingual skills were needed so he made his place at the paramedics' sides official before returning to orchestrate the rest of the fire suppression. With nine patients, four of which claiming to speak no English, Marco was pretty busy translating and didn't get as much of the cleaner air from his tank as he really needed.

Marco managed to convey to all of the victims what the paramedics were doing to them and why as the four men worked. Three times Johnny stopped to free one hand to push the mask up to Marco's face. Finally the ambulances started arriving and the patients were being loaded. Two of the ambulance attendants were also bilingual so it was not necessary for Marco to ride in with any of the patients. When the last of the patients were being loaded Roy looked over at Johnny before turning his head to Marco who was now sitting on the running board of the squad still coughing.

"I'll take care of him." Johnny announced then returned to Marco's side. Now that some of the patients had been hooked up to the oxygen in the ambulance Johnny was able to retrieve one tank to take to Marco's side. Pulling open the proper compartment Johnny retrieved a fresh mask set up and quickly replaced Marco's air tank with the pure oxygen he really needed.

The fire was now out but the men were pulling clapboards and siding away to make sure there was no smoldering insulation to start up again once they left. The damage though surprisingly minor was still significant, But once the smoke was blown out and a window replaced the place would be livable.

With the scene secured Hank came over to the squad to get a report and to check on his valued lineman. Hank had just come around the corner of the squad when the policeman in charge of the crowd control caught up with him with a question or two that he needed answered in order to complete his report. While Hank was so answering a woman who lived nearby stepped up and started talking.

"Officer I saw the whole thing, those stupid Mexicans were using booze as a fire started for their barbeque and I think they were trying to flavor their meet with it too. They were pouring the stuff on the open flames when the bottle one of them was holding just exploded in his hands."

The women talked nonstop for some time as Johnny was getting vitals on Marco and listening to his lungs. Every sentence started with, 'those stupid Mexicans', and continued to list something that she found offensive. The fact that they didn't speak English, the broken down cars around the property, the frequent and large parties, the empty beer cans and bottles left lying around.

Both Johnny and Captain Stanley knew each word she was saying was a personal slap to their friend behind the oxygen mask.

Hank managed to pull away from the upset neighbor talking to the police officer and go to Johnny's side. "How's he doing?"

"Better now that he's able to stop talking long enough to start breathing in the stuff his lungs need." Johnny assured both Cap and Marco. "I think it would be a good idea for me to take him on in to Rampart to be checked out by a doc though, he might need a breathing treatment."

"Can you take him in with you or should I call another ambulance?"

"I can just go in with Johnny," Marco quickly answered and hoped the other two would agree. Johnny gave a nod of his head and Captain Stanley took a hold of one of Marco's arms while Johnny took the other and helped him into the cab of the squad.

John quickly replaced the last of his equipment in the compartments of the squad and after sharing a knowing look with his captain hurried around to climb in behind the wheel.

The ride began in silence but Marco was very aware of Johnny watching his breathing and counting his coughs as much as he was watching the road.

They were half way to their destination with Johnny finally spoke. "You know you're not one of 'Those Mexicans' that that lady back there was complaining about." Johnny stopped for a yellow light when he could have easily gotten through, "you have learned to speak English, and you don't leave your beer cans lying around. You have a respectable job and you're a respectable person. It's really the behavior that people are upset about, that they automatically associate it with the color of a person's skin and their heritage is where they're wrong.

"In my case I have to admit that there are a lot of Indians on the reservation who drink a lot more than they should and when their drunk, do some unimaginable things. I'm sure that's what my folks meant when they told me to be sure I don't become the person other people say I am."

Marco sighed and then lit into a coughing spasm. John was just starting to pull the squad to the side of the road so that he could pull out the oxygen and get it back on his friend when Marco forced control on his breathing and waved Johnny on. If they'd been more than the three blocks away from the hospital Johnny would have still stopped but they were close enough that he just pulled back into traffic and then pushed the speed a little.

"I guess too much alcohol is a problem for every race," Marco started to talk. His voice was husky showing the effects of the smoke and he had to stop to clear his throat. "I don't know if you know this or not but my Dad is a bar tender."

"I heard that," Johnny commented.

"I have to admit that I've drunk my way through more than a few bad runs."

"After you're off duty of course," Johnny clarified.

"Yeah, I'd never drink on the job. Only after I get home, and then just enough to help get to sleep." Marco coughed again. "I had to have a talk with my dad about it and he agreed to stop me at two of his highballs. One of the things I've noticed since I moved out on my own is that I really don't need the booze. Oh I'll sometimes have a beer or two but I've found that I'm tired enough that I usually don't need something to help me sleep. Maybe I'm just getting numb to all the heartache we see in our business."

"No," Johnny spoke up in a thoughtful tone, "I don't think that's it at all. I've watched you Marco; you feel the pain of those we try to help as much as the rest of us. I think you just pull strength and reassurance from your religious beliefs to help you through, that and knowing that you've done something to help the people. Like the call we just had, you never once even thought about how those men did something stupid to get them and their families into trouble. You just did everything you could to help them. I've also noticed the Cap assigned you most of the dead bodies to deal with. I know, and I hope you know, that it's not because he doesn't like you and he's giving you the worst jobs he can. It's because you take care of those bodies with a reverence that the rest of us can barely understand. We all notice how gentle you are with the body and how when you cover them up, you bow your head and offer up a prayer to your and their maker on their behalf.

"I know I've never said anything before but I want you to know that it helps me to go about my business, it's nice to see that those we lose are taken care of too, at least I know it helps me to see you do that, and somehow I'm sure that's why Cap usually has you deal with those cases."


	6. Chapter 6

**Head Held High, Nose at a Friendly Level**

Sure enough, Dr. Early prescribed a breathing treatment for Marco and when it was done he was feeling much better.

"Now all you guys need to do is come up with some way to communicate with your victims through your masks so that this doesn't happen again," Dr. Early joked as he gave Marco a slap on his back to go with the clean bill of health and an okay to return to work.

"I'm sure glad you were there today Marco. It's never easy working on a patient when I can't understand them and they can't understand me," Roy commented as they drove back to the station once Marco had been released.

Marco stayed quiet for a while then started to speak. "You know even when people like me make the effort to learn another language, when you get panicked you automatically start thinking and speaking in your first language. I'm glad that I can be there at times like those to help them calm down by speaking to them in the language they are most comfortable with, but when they won't even try, when they use it as an excuse to keep from getting an honest job. I don't know." Marco shook his head and everyone in the cab understood his disappointment with some of the people of the human race.

When the squad arrived back at the station Marco was quick to roll out after Johnny moved to make way for him. He quickly found the captain and reported in then, without saying a word, went to help Chet and Mike finish getting the engine ready.

When the work was done Marco made a dinner fit for kings and placed it before the rest of his crew before sitting down and enjoying the way they inhaled his offering. While Johnny and Mike worked together to wash up the dishes Marco started looking over the newspaper. Everyone noticed when he got up and took the section of the paper he was reading with him out to the map in the bay. Cap carefully stuck his head out to see Marco consulting the paper in his hand then locating the address on the map. He was also rather impressed with the areas he seemed to be looking. When he sat back down again Johnny managed to look over his shoulder and was pleases to find he was looking at the house for sale section.

As the shift was drawing to a close the next morning Marco was spending a little extra time in the locker room getting spiffed up.

"Uh, Marco, do you have a date I don't know about." Chet watched his friend questioningly.

"Not a date, well at least not a date with a girl,"

"What other kind of date is there?" Johnny stepped into the conversation with a real questioning look on his face.

Marco responded to the razing he was getting. "Before I can buy a house I better find out how much of a housing loan I can qualify for. I've heard the best way to get a loan is to look like you don't need one."

"I think that's the best way to get a job is to look like you don't need one. But I'm sure it would be in your favor if you didn't look like a total bum when you walk in asking for a loan. Where are you planning to apply for this mortgage?"

"I thought I'd start with the Firefighter's Credit Union, being as I'm a firefighter. I'm told they farm mortgages out but they give some really favorable rates."

"Sounds like as good of a place to start as any." Johnny was actually excited for his coworker and his attitude, it looked to him that his moral boosting efforts were having a positive effect, but Johnny remembered something he wasn't sure Marco had remembered. "You do remember, don't you, that you rode in with me at the beginning of the shift?"

"Oh man," Marco slapped his forehead, "I forgot about that. I just made an appointment to meet with a loan officer." Marco pulled his watch into view and thought hard. "There's no way I can get to Chet's and back to the credit union before my appointment. I better go call a cab." Marco started moving fast for the closest phone.

Johnny reached out and stopped him. "I'll drive you; I'm the one who insisted you ride in with me. Besides, while you're finding out about a home loan, maybe I can do the same. I'm not sure if I want to support an apartment building that's as discriminatory as mine sure seems to be right now. It just might be good to find out what my options are."

"I'd go with you," Chet spoke up, "but I'm not so sure I want to buy a house at this point in my life. I mean who'll watch out for it while I'm on shift?"

The look on Johnny's face made it clear that he hadn't thought about that aspect of home ownership, but Marco was only slightly fazed. "That's something to think about but I still have to find a place to live. If I stay at your place any longer I'm going to have to start paying rent and a long term roommate situation with you is not something I think will work out."

Johnny took a quick notice of how he was dressed and dug out a comb to give his hair a slightly more appropriate appearance before he grabbed his sweater and keys and motioned to Marco that they should go.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the credit union Johnny took one more good look at his hair in the rearview mirror before letting out a dissatisfied sigh. "You go ahead, Marco, I'm going to slip over to that barber shop over there first. When I came in here to take out a loan when I bought my Rover they commented that my hair wasn't regulation. I think it's maybe a little over due for a trim."

Johnny then pulled into the next parking stall and got out putting his keys in his pocket as he ran to the crosswalk. Marco finally got out of the truck making sure Johnny had his keys before locking up and walking into the credit union.

Marco sat, waiting for the loan officer to look over his records. He had saved a good portion of his check since he started working, although he had paid rent to his parents and helped with the food budget the rent had been low compared to what it was when he moved out. Coming up with first and last month's rent twice in such a short period of time had eaten up some of his savings as did buying his last truck, but he did buy a good used truck at a price that was much less than he had saved for it and the checks from the insurance and refund on his cleaning deposit and rent he got after the accident that totaled his last apartment he did have a decent amount for a down payment.

Marco had been surprised in his education of closing costs and property insurance but he was most surprised that the house he could qualify for would give him a lower monthly payment than he had last paid in rent.

Marco left his loan officer's office with his eyes glued to a stack of papers and when he looked around to find his ride he noticed that Johnny's hair was within regulations, but just barely. He didn't have to wait long before Johnny joined him in the lobby with his own set of papers.

When Johnny drove into Chet's apartment building both he and Marco were a little overwhelmed.

"Now I just have to decide if I want to be tied down for thirty years," Johnny commented before looking at Marco. "I think I'm going to go back to my place and sleep on things at least until tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too," Marco sighed. "I had all the energy in the world this morning but now, that warehouse fire last night is really dragging me down. That was sure a good idea you had about signing up for disability insurance, in our line of work you never know when you could get injured and on workman's comp payments it could be kind of tight to come up with a mortgage payment.

Marco let himself in with the key he had been given and found that his host had collapsed on his bed as soon as he got home. He then went to the room he was being allowed to use and offered up a prayer of thanks and asked for guidance before he too climbed into the bed and was soon fast asleep.

-0-

Marco was awakened several hours later by knocking on the guest room door. The first few knocks brought his eyes open, a few seconds later another set of knocks were followed by Chet calling his name.

Marco pried himself out of bed to go to the phone that Chet said was for him and learned that Captain Tollins was down a man after one of his linemen received some electrical burns on his leg when a power line came down into a puddle he was standing in. "I figured since you were trying to come up with moving in expenses you might be interested in some overtime." Marco quickly agreed to come in.

Their first fire call came in while Marco was still getting dressed. He ended up buttoning and tucking in his shirt while the engine rolled out of the bay. Captain Tollins would point out to him later that his buttons weren't strait but he wasn't reprimanding him when he pointed it out, he was instead, understanding.

The second run of his shift was an auto accident; it has been a particularly bad one, leaving two fatalities. As the paramedics took care of the three survivors Captain Tollins asked for a volunteer to take care of the fatalities. Marco quietly stepped forward with the needed blankets and as he went about the work at hand Marco thought about what Johnny had said.

Asking for volunteers was the way Captain Stanley started out when he first came to be in charge at the station. After a while he just asked Marco to take care of it. Marco had never felt as if Captain Stanley was giving him the toughest job because of any displeasure in him. Marco had long let him know that he could handle this aspect of his job. He knew that he and Captain Stanley shared a basic religion and though nothing was said between them on that ground there was comfort in knowing it.

Once the bodies were out of the way giving the paramedics easier access to their patients Marco positioned them respectfully and covered their bodies. Then giving a quick glance around to make sure he wasn't making a spectacle of himself he bowed his head and addressed the great maker of all, asking him to keep these souls in his loving care and to help the families they left behind.

Until Johnny had said something to him about his practices, Marco had no idea that anyone ever noticed. But at that moment of loss he felt comforted that his acts had been noticed and that those acts were welcomed and helpful to others. As he genuflected before pushing back to his feet Marco made an internal vow to continue with his practices.

Five trash fires within a block of each other kept the men busy the rest of the night, one of the garbage bins requiring them to make a second visit. It was certain that someone was lighting them off, probably as some sort of a prank but they weren't sure if the fire they were called out on a second time was restarted or if smoldering debris had caught a gust of wind and kicked up again. They were extra careful the second time to make sure they had the fire completely out.

Dinner was late in coming that night and was little more than sandwiches and warmed cans of soup. As the men made their way to bed Marco wandered into the kitchen for one last glass of milk and found himself sitting at the table searching for the energy to get up and head to bed.

His thoughts were full as he sat there contemplating his current homeless status. He was quick to remind himself that he wasn't living on the streets and vowed to show some sort of gratitude to Chet for taking him in. Just how to do it would have to be thought through carefully; he didn't want to do anything to make either himself or Chet embarrassed. His thoughts turned to the fears and sense of freedom that came with the plans to buy his first home. And he realized for the first time that he had felt trapped for some time. Trapped by his race to live in substandard housing in blighted areas, he had felt just as trapped as he had been when the car was parked on his chest. He knew it was that same despair that had his brother and his new wife living with his parents, and wondered where it was that he had learned to fight back. He knew it came with is choice to become a firefighter and as he allowed his mind to wander he found many benefits he had gained from his job that were far beyond the pay he received for the work that he did. His friends and fellow firefighters, and the influence they had in his life, were high on that list.

He sat at the table in deep thought for over an hour before Captain Tollins came in search of his lost sheep. He found Marco sitting at the table toying with a long empty glass, his gaze a million miles away. He chose to carefully place a hand on Marco's shoulder before he spoke making sure his last footsteps were heard before he did so.

"It's best you sleep while you can in this profession," the wise captain advised.

"Yes sir," Marco responded with little energy, "I just started thinking and I guess my thoughts were starting to run away with me."

Marco finally found the energy to get up from the table in the form of a helping hand from his current captain and after washing out his glass he went to bed but he didn't stop thinking.

The next morning the rest of his regular crew joined him at the station. After Captain Stanley had received his report on the previous shift Captain Tollins asked Marco to join him in the office while Captain Stanley grabbed a cup of coffee.

"Hank tells me you're thinking about buying a house."

"Yes sir."

"Well, it just so happens that I dealt with a guy years ago that was in the practice of buying up a lot of rental properties and well he died kind of suddenly a year or so ago and now that his estate is finally worked out his children are selling off his properties. My wife and I talked about going back into the rental business for some extra income but I also know that there are a lot of single family residents on his list. The ones we've looked at are a bit neglected but are structurally sound and they're going cheep for the current market."

Marco was interested in the information given to him and readily accepted the name and phone number of the agent dealing with the properties. Before his shift was called in for roll call he made a phone call to talk to the agent.


	7. Chapter 7

**Daring to Dream a Vision of a Future**

While the engine was out on another dumpster fire the agent dropped by with a list of properties. Roy explained that Marco wasn't there and invited the young man in to wait when the PA over head announced that the engine was being called out to yet another dumpster fire just a block away from where they were currently fighting a trash fire.

"Well, we have an appointment to get together tomorrow," the man at the door explained. "I just wanted to stop by and give him a list of available properties. I thought that this way he could pick a few that he wanted to see so we can make our day as productive as possible."

"In that case I can certainly give him the list," Roy took the papers from the young man who looked younger than his partner. "He does have your phone number so that he can get back with you if he has any questions, doesn't he?"

"I'm sure he does since he called me this morning," the young man spoke with a slight amount of annoyance in his voice. "But if he's lost it I stapled one of my business cards to the papers you have right there in your hand."

Roy was slightly surprised by the young man's attitude but politely guided him back to his car in the parking lot before returning inside and hurriedly taping the papers to the front of Marco's locker before racing to the squad to respond to a call.

Marco found the papers a few hours later and spent most of his spare time before lights out reading through them and checking the addresses against the big map in the bay. It was true what Captain Tollins had told him, that the prices were lower that others he had been looking into but Marco was nervous about what condition these homes would be in and his ability to recognize something serious as far as structural damage. He managed to talk about those fears at breakfast the next morning and Johnny and Chet were quick to offer to join him in looking the houses over. Then Captain Stanley recommended he call in a home inspector before he finalizes any deal. He even recommended a neighbor of his as a trusted person who would give them an honest appraisal of the properties condition.

Marco added the captain's friend's contact information to the back of his papers.

Johnny had looked over the list as well as Marco and there was a small horse ranch that caught his eye. The asking price was slightly higher than he could qualify for at the moment but he still wanted to look the place over. That was where Marco, Johnny and Chet agreed to meet with the real estate agent the next morning.

The place had been vacant for years; it was obvious when they were yet two blocks away. None of them were surprised to see a citation from the fire department taped to the door declaring the place a fire hazard in need of being cleaned up. The barn and corral were filled with over grown weeds and dried tumble weeds were piled against every structure and in one corner of the fenced in pasture. The young agent let slip that his grandfather had tried to subdivide the area into a housing division but he had been unable to change the zoning. Still, Johnny had to walk through the place and after stomping up and down on all of the floors and checking out the furnace and plumbing he put in a bid for the maximum amount he could qualify for loan wise. It was a far cry from their asking price but John just couldn't come up with any more right then.

The three men then traveled to see a dozen other homes that had been on the list. Four of them had been within a two block radius and the neighborhood around them was very run down. One of the houses had two broken windows, another the door had been pried open and the door jamb damaged. There was evidence that someone had been living in another one even though there hadn't been running water or electricity for over a year. It was an easy consensus that they all wanted to keep looking. This was not an area that seemed safe for anyone to live if they were going to be away from home for up to 72 hours at a time. The odds were just too high that whatever they owned wouldn't be there when they came home from work.

The next few houses showed promise. Like all of the houses they were sorely neglected, the yards were overgrown and the places were all in need of new carpeting, a couple of coats of paint and a lot of yard work. However the men were starting to see possibilities and Johnny started getting an idea about buying one, fixing it up and then reselling it for a profit in hopes of being able to make a better offer on the horse ranch that he really wanted.

One of the properties was a duplex, something Marco had considered to have someone around while he was at work to watch the place. Once he saw it though he wasn't thrilled with the place. It was set up so that one living space was behind the other, making it so that one two bedroom apartment faced the street the other was entered into by driving around back.

Chet loved the idea and talked about the merits of the place while they visited the next four or five places. They finally agreed to go back and give it another look but at the end of the second walk through neither Marco nor Johnny were interested.

Chet tried one more time to point out his vision of the place once it was fixed up just a little. Marco and Johnny looked at each other and sighed.

"Chet, if you like it so much why don't you buy it?" Johnny finally made it clear he wasn't interested in the place. Chet walked through the place once more on his own and then put in a bid based on what Marco had been told he would qualify for. He then excused himself from the group to go to the credit union to start his loan process while Marco and Johnny continued on to look at the rest of the houses on Marco's list.

The last of the houses all showed some promise but Marco was afraid to get too excited. There was one that caught Marco's eye and he asked to go back and see it once again once they were finished.

Johnny made an offer on a house just a couple of blocks away but made it clear to Marco that his intentions, if he could get it, were to fix it up quickly and resell it to earn money to go toward the horse ranch, or another like it, if that place sold before he could get enough money.

Knowing that making an offer wasn't a signed contract Marco calculated what he had to offer minus what he would need to fix the place up enough to live in it. Still most of the work would have to be done over time, if he did indeed buy the place.

After the agent and Johnny went their way, Marco drove back to the house and just sat in his car looking at it. He then got out of his car and walked up and down the street looking at the other houses and the families he saw coming and going. Then he sat back in his car and looked at the place a little longer. It wasn't his dream home but it had possibilities. There were two large trees that were very over grown and would need to be cut back, one of which Marco hoped could be taken out altogether without damaging the foundation. Thick clusters of weed trees had grown up along one fence and around the back of the house. The odds were good that he'd have to remove the fence to get them all out and then replace it. The concrete driveway was broken up and would need to be replaced. And the garage, although structurally sound, was in need of a new door and the outer wall on one and a half sides. Marco was sure that the missing lumber was what had been used for the ramshackle tree house in the tree on the fence line that was shared with one of the neighbors. He had to wonder who had built the tree house; it was pretty obvious that it was someone who didn't have a lot of carpentry skills.

He hadn't seen those neighbors yet. He wasn't sure how they would be as neighbors or how they would feel about him moving in next door. He guessed he could always do what Johnny was planning to do and sell it again once he had it fixed up if the neighborhood didn't work out. He was also very undecided as to what he should do with the tree house.

That plan gave Marco the peace to think on the house more. The house was a four bedroom with two baths. One wall in the living room area had a large hole in it but Marco was thinking of taking that wall out rather than repair it, giving the place a larger living room and maybe allow for a formal dining room, something that would impress his mother. There was attic space that Marco felt could be made into another bedroom and he wondered if a bath could be put in to serve that room. He'd have to look into it.

The carpets would all need to be pulled up and replaced and Marco was thinking in terms of wood flooring or tile. The kitchen cabinets were in pretty good shape, the doors could use a little paint or something. Of course the whole place needed a fresh coat of paint both inside and out. Marco decided to go to a cabinet store and the library to get ideas.

That's when he heard the tapping on his truck window and turned to see two police officers trying to get his attention.

Marco didn't recognize the police officers standing outside his truck so he was insecure and frightened enough to be very slow in getting out and made sure he kept his hands in plain sight the whole time he moved. He also made sure to tell the police officers of his intentions to get his identification before he made any move to reach into his back pocket.

After he provided proof of who he was and what he did for a living, Marco explained why he had been looking over the neighborhood and admitted to being parked there for some time. He then talked to the two police officers about the kinds of calls they responded to in this neighborhood and was pleased to hear that there were a few neighbors that called in for every little thing.

All and all it sounded like it could very well be a good neighborhood for a man who would be away from home for twenty-four to seventy –two hours at a whack. But, would the neighbors accept him? Would his bid on the house be accepted? Only time would tell.

The next day the three off duty firemen thought hard about what they were going to do. While laundry was being done at three different laundromats, each man sat down with a piece of scratch paper retrieved from a waist can and listed the pro's and con's of the places they were looking at. For Johnny it was a list of things he thought would help the one place sell the fastest, giving him a better chance at the horse ranch that he really wanted. He already had a horse so if he were to get that place he wouldn't have to pay for stable fees, but he would have to find someone to take care of his horse while he was on shift.

Marco had agreed to cover for the C Shift lineman until he was off the injured list so once again he reported for duty the day before the rest of his regular crew. Captain Tollins raised cheers from his men by announcing that the police had apprehended the group of eight twelve and thirteen year olds who were setting fires in the dumpsters. Seems it had all started when a group of store owners had banded together to deny them the privilege of roller-skating and skateboarding on the storefront sidewalks, so the group of preteens set out to get even.

The shift before had had a late fire so the first order of business was to clean up the gear and then mop out the bay. As the men worked the topic of discussion was how Marco was coming with finding a place to live. When he told them about the house he had put a bid on all kinds of offers came out of the woodwork. The other lineman on C shift worked for an uncle, who was a general fix it man, on his off days. He knew from previous experience that his uncle would let Matt's friends from the fire department use his contractors account with several supply houses to get discounts on things like fencing, paint and other construction supplies. "If all three of you get your homes and coordinate your repairs you can buy in bulk and save even more," Matt had explained to Marco.

All the talk got Marco thinking about his uncle who did landscaping for a living and he was sure he'd help them all get the yards in good shape and install sprinkling systems that would run on timers so that the lawns and gardens would be watered even while they were at work.

When A shift reported for their next shift all three house hunters were still thinking positively about going through with the purchase of their individual houses. Marco shared the offer and information he had gotten from his overtime shift and the enthusiasm and anxiety started growing among the men.

They were nearing the end of roll call the stations doorbell rung and Captain Stanley sent Mike to answer it while he finished up the beginning of shift business. The man Mike led in looked familiar to most everyone else on the shift but they all recognized his annoyance at having to wait until the leader of the group was finished talking before he could get down to business.

Hank allowed his men the time to deal with their guest but made sure the young man knew that if the alarm went off they would have to leave weather he was done or not so he better not beat around the bush.

The young real estate agent took the hint and made short work of informing Chet that his offer for the duplex had been accepted and then presented counter offers to both Marco and John on the houses they had bid on. As expected, the bid on the horse property was not even being considered at the moment and after that proclamation nothing further was said on the matter.

All three men synchronized taking in deep breaths and blowing them out as they thought. That's when Hank stepped up. "It sounds to me that it's time to get my neighbor involved before you go any farther. At least I'm sure there would be no objection to these men getting a building inspector's complete evaluation of the properties?"

It was instantly obvious that the young man did object but they all knew there was nothing he could legally do to stop them. Hank didn't even wait for his men to agree to his suggestion he just moved forward and picked up the phone on his desk and pulled a business card out of the top drawer before dialing. They barely managed to make arraignments between the inspector and the agent to look over the properties before the station was called to a fire in the loading bay of a nearby trucking company.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sometimes Stepping Back is the Best Move**

The trucking company was just two miles away from the station and as the engine and squad of station 51 rolled around the last corner they could see several men stopping traffic in both directions on the road that ran in front of the loading docks. As they worked around the stopped traffic a large eighteen wheeler barreled across the road into a vacant field, smoke trailing behind from the box trailer. Once the truck was across the road the men who had stopped traffic for it turned and directed the fire department in after it.

The squad pulled into the field and out of the way as the engine pulled past it and to a safe but still attackable distance from the 18 wheeler. While they were pulling hose, the driver of the semi unhooked the tractor from the trailer and quickly drove the tractor away, parking in an area near the engine as two other fire engines were pulling in around the tractor. The driver then got out with a book in his hand and hurried over to Hank's side.

"I've got no idea what's in there or who the driver was." The man stopped next to the person who was clearly in charge at the moment and pulled open the book in his hand. "I took a chance and pulled it away from the dock before it could take everything with it."

"You were taking a chance but it was good work," Hank praised the man as he looked at the book with him.

"Units responding, hold back, we're still trying to determine what the cargo is." Hank spoke into the handy talkie as the man next to him turned pages in the log book.

When the foreman at Hank's side found what he was looking for he held the book out with his finger pointing to the line he needed. The shipment manifest showed pickups at three different chemical companies without delivery information or details as to what was picked up.

The foreman didn't have to be told that the information was inadequate and pulled his walkie talkie, requesting any and all information about the companies listed and a search for the driver of the rig.

While the foreman was getting the information, Hank ordered all firemen to gear up with air tanks and move in cautiously with a fog from all directions. He then asked for the police to back all civilians off.

Once the battalion chief was on site they still had no idea what they were dealing with but the smoke and fumes coming from the trailer were noxious with hints of red tainting the smoke. Without knowing what they were dealing with, and the truck being away from anything else, the best course of action was to contain and stand back.

Finally, the foreman's walkie talkie came to life as he was informed that a driver was found in one of the bathrooms in the building, unconscious. One of the chemical companies in question claimed to be shipping waste products of undetermined nature from a cleaning chemical manufacturer and no phone number had been located on the other two companies listed. The person giving the information didn't even think one of the companies even existed.

What they had on their hands was a fire fighting nightmare that got worse when the foreman started coughing and getting light headed. One of the police officers loaded him into a patrol car and drove him back across the street where the paramedics were working on the man that was believed to be the driver. Both men were taken to the hospital on oxygen and precautionary IV's.

While the doctors at Rampart were running toxicology screens to try and determine what they were dealing with, the fire department took on a 'let it burn' stand believing that to be the best course of action.

It made for a very long day as chemical specialists as well as fire and police investigators were put into action in attempts to determine exactly what they were dealing with. It took four hours before the first flames showed and continued to burn for three hours after that.

When a charcoaled skeleton was all that remained and no smoke or other visible steam was rising, the exhausted fire fighters were finally released from the scene and told to report to Rampart. There they were given a good shower, had blood drawn, every inch of them was looked over carefully; they were fed a nutritious meal and told to take another shower. They were then released to return to duty with instructions to report back to the hospital if the slightest little thing felt off.

By the time the men returned to the station their faces still bore the pressure marks from wearing their masks literally all day long. All of their turn out gear had been traded out so that the ones they had worn, as well as the hose on the engine, could be tested and cleaned. By morning only some of the chemicals involved had been identified and the driver had not regained consciousness.

What had been figured out so far was that cleaning chemicals had been mixed with some pharmaceutical waist. None of it good but none of it overly toxic and none of it explained the spontaneous combustion or the coma the driver was in. They were all advised to stay close to a phone for the next twenty four hours once they were off duty.

Morning also brought a visit from Hank's friend, the building inspector. His report was full of details that none of the men had thought about, but he did find the houses sound structurally. All were lacking in recommended insulation, and he recommended they have the plumbing snaked and the paint tested for lead. The furnace and water heater from Marco's house were missing, believed to have been taken by the last residence three years ago.

The inspector's advice, once he had told them all he knew and listened to them tell him of their intentions, was that the homes were well worth what was being asked but that the family was so eager to sell that he thought they should just wait for a while. After what he had found and detailed in his personal report to the guys, a copy which was given to the real estate agent, who was confirmed to be a family member.

"I strongly suspect that they will have new counter bids later this morning that will be a lot closer to your original bids," Hank's friend suggested. "And as far as the furnace and water heater, I would recommend you tell them you'll take care of it for a lower selling price because I don't think they'll put in good quality merchandise."

The men took the inspector's advice and arranged to pay him for his work, it was learned that he was planning to buy several of the houses to fix up and resell as an investment. "After what I've seen in my line of work, ain't no way I'm getting into the rental business. But these are good houses and at good prices."

The men all went home or, as in Marco's case, grocery shopping and then to Chet's apartment. Some of Chet's neighbors gave a distasteful glare at Marco as he walked up the steps to Chet's place and let himself in.

Marco noticed that Chet had dropped his duffle bag in the chair just inside the door and was now in the shower, given the steam throughout the apartment he had been in there for a while and Marco knew there would be no hot water left for him. When he went to place some groceries in the refrigerator he found a very nice looking young lady sitting at the table finishing up the remains of what looked like a sizable breakfast. It seemed that Chet had a date.

"You must be Marco," the girl called out shyly. "Chet told me that you were staying here since your apartment sort of fell in on you. I'm Tina, an old friend of Chester's. I just got back in town after a long trip."

"Hi, um, nice to meet you, I'll just get out of your way." Marco turned and, remembering something his mother used to say, mumbled quietly, "Dead fish and guests begin to smell after three days." His mind raced to think of someplace to go but the mandate that all the men who fought that fire remain near the phone until the rest of those chemicals were identified, sent him to the guest room and behind a closed door.

Chet knocked a few minutes later and stuck his head in the door and offered to call Tina's roommate and invite her over for Marco.

Marco had never been into blind dates and the noises he heard before the door was knocked on told him the activities of the day weren't the kind he wanted to carry on with in the company of someone he just met. He declined the offer, as politely as possible

Marco stayed in the guest room going over his financial records trying to decide where to come up with the money to make a higher bid on that house. At one point he managed to doze off but he was awakened about noon by the ringing of the phone.

Chet was heard talking on the phone as he walked in the direction of Marco's room. Marco heard the word 'no' several times and then the knock on his door. Without waiting for a reply Chet opened the door and stuck his head in. "Its headquarters, they want to talk with you about how you're feeling. That truck driver from yesterday. . . he just died."

Nervously, Marco stepped to the doorway as the cord of the phone wouldn't stretch any farther. Standing in the hall, Marco proceeded to answer the questions asked of him.

"Do you have a headache?"

"No."

"Do you have any stiffness in your neck or shoulders?"

"No."

"Do you have a sore throat or an ear ache?"

"No."

"Are you experiencing any thoughts of a suicidal nature?"

'_Homicide maybe but not suicide,'_ Marco thought to himself as he looked at Chet standing at the end of the hall watching him, with Tina wrapped around his shoulders. Marco let out a deep breath, "NO."

"Are you more tired than usual?"

"That's hard to say right now," Marco responded, "It was a long shift and no one slept real well last night wondering what kinds of chemicals were in that truck. The phone did just wake me up so I feel fine right now."

Several more questions were asked causing Marco to evaluate his body and when the call was disconnected he honestly wasn't sure how he felt. He handed the phone back to Chet and could see the tell tale signs in his eyes that he felt the same way.

"Hey, we were just about to sit down to some lunch. Do you want to join us?" Chet offered.

"No, that's okay, I don't want to intrude." Marco turned to go back to his room.

"Look, Marco," Chet stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "You've got to eat, at least for the time being you're living here, too, so you don't need to hide in the bedroom. Besides after what I just heard I'd feel better if we were keeping an eye on each other." Chet stepped away from his lady friend and gave Marco a worried look. "You were the one that opened that hatch, no one else got as close to that trailer as you did."

"I'm fine, Chet."

"I know you are, it's just that I want to keep an eye on you, that's all; a good back up linemen is hard to come by. Besides, lunch is bound to taste better if you help cook it."

Reluctantly Marco agreed to join them for lunch and before the food was ready there was a knock on the door and a young lady by the name of Jennie was introduced to Marco. She was nice enough and asked intelligent questions about firefighting and what it must have been like for Marco to be trapped in his bed for so long before help arrived.

Chet announced that he was buying a duplex and the girls offered him suggestions on how to fix it up. Marco made mental note of those suggestions but didn't say anything about the house he was hoping for.

After lunch the group got together for some table games and Marco did have a pleasant afternoon. Marco wasn't sure he would seek out Jennie's company again in the future but he did have a pleasant afternoon.

Captain Stanley called around mid afternoon with updates on the investigation and to check on each of his men personally and the hospital also called with results from the blood tests which were all were within normal parameters.

The group was just starting to make dinner plans when the phone rang and Chet answered it. "Marco, it's for you, that real estate guy."

Marco held his breath as he reached for the phone. "This is Lopez."

All eyes were locked on Marco as he silently listened to what was being said to him. When Marco's eyes went wide and he slumped against the wall for support he quickly had Chet at his side holding him up with one hand as he pulled a chair under his friend with the other.

Marco cupped his hand over the mouth piece and forced himself to take a deep breath and blow it out. He then closed his eyes and did it again.

Finally he looked up at Chet and let out another deep breath. Removing his hand from the phone and using it to take a firm hold of Chet's arm Marco finally spoke. "Well, Mr. Johnson, I will admit that I'm interested in that house so as far as the present offer I do believe we can make a deal. How soon can I expect to be able to begin the needed repairs?"

As Marco listened he held his breath and his grip on Chet's arm grew gradually tighter, but Chet had heard enough to get the idea his friend was getting good news so he just let his smile grow from behind his mustache and waited for his friend to finish his phone call so he could tell him everything.

Marco then let go of Chet's arm and looked around before motioning with his hand that he needed something to write on and something to write with. Tina grabbed the pencil from the card table and turned the Yatzee score sheet over for Marco to write on the back of it. Information was written down in Spanish so no one could read more than the address and phone number that was written. "All right, I'll see you tomorrow at five then," Marco closed the call and held the handset out for Tina to take it from him and hang the phone up.

Marco took another deep breath and leaned back against the back of the chair he was sitting on. His eyes grew wide again and a smile started to grow.

"I got the house." He nearly whispered, then he made eye contact with Chet, "I GOT THE HOUSE!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh What Have We Gotten Ourselves Into?**

"I got the house, I got the house, I can't believe it, I got the house. They even lowered the asking price to below my original offer in light of the furnace and water heater being missing. That inspector friend of Cap's was right when he said they were in a hurry to unload the places." Marco was surprised, shocked, scared, excited, and at least a dozen more feelings he wasn't sure he recognized yet. He was also breathing just a little fast.

"Hey there, buddy, you better slow your breathing down a little or I'm going to have to call a squad out for you." Chet smiled at his friend's side.

Marco forced himself to hold his breath for a few seconds as he focused on getting himself calmed down. That's when Chet noticed that his friend's expression instantly changed in the opposite direction from what it had been.

"Oh, Man," Marco put his face in his hands. "I've still got to find a place to live, I won't be able to start working on the house for nearly a month and it's going to take me that long again to get the place livable."

Just then Chet's eyes and mouth opened wide and his face lost all color as he slid into the empty chair next to Marco. "I didn't think about that," Chet exclaimed and then turned his shocked eyes toward his now puzzled and concerned friend. "I put my thirty day notice in on this place this morning as soon as I got home."

-0-

Marco reported for his overtime assignment the next morning. He and Chet had talked things over and figured out that Marco could move back in with his mother for the short time it would take him to fix the house up enough to move into it. He had already agreed to cover for the injured man on C shift until he returned and that was expected to be six weeks. By then he would hopefully have at least have the bathroom up and running so that he could shower. He considered borrowing his uncle's camper and camping out in the back yard for a week or two if he needed to.

Chet had checked in with his sister and she would allow him to crash on the sofa for a short time. She was excited for her brother and the two of them were talking about her renting the other half of his duplex once he got it fixed up.

Matt and Marco talked about the house while they mopped the bay floor together. Later that evening Matt gave his uncle a call and got a price on a new furnace, air conditioner and water heater. Marco was given a quote to install them using Marco as slave labor to get the job done and Marco was pleasantly surprised. Matt left the next morning promising to bring in a bunch of magazines full of remodeling and decorating ideas.

By the time A-shift was all in uniform they knew that the three crewmates were purchasing their first homes. Johnny had managed to come up with a counter-offer to the counter-offer that was accepted and he had announced it to Roy in the parking lot when they both arrived at work.

Between shifts Marco gave his Uncle Juan a call and talked to him about the landscaping. He had long ago learned that the right equipment made a world of difference in how fast a job could get done.

Even though they didn't have possession of the properties yet, Uncle Juan was able to get on site long enough to get the measurements and layout of the yard enough to design sprinkler systems for each yard.

Chet had managed to get copies of the original blue prints for each of the houses and it was quickly discovered that both Chet's and Marco's houses had been remolded before. The rest of their crew mates, for Marco, two sets of crew mates, brought in magazines every week for them to look over and get ideas and plans were beginning to come together.

At last the day they thought would never come, arrived, and three men were sitting in three different offices in three different parts of town over a two day period and each man left those offices with a set of keys in their hands.

It was learned at their closings that part of the reason the family had been eager to sell was that there were citations filed on the properties to get them to clean up the yards and houses. Each man was informed that they had ninety days to get the yards cleaned up and fences fixed up. Each man had a shorter time frame than that in mind, so they weren't worried.

The night he took possession of the house Marco visited with each of his next door neighbors, telling them about the work he was planning to do on the fence lines and informing them of the need to take the fences down for a short period of time. The neighbor to the north was an elderly widow who was worried about her prized rose garden, planted for her by her late husband. Marco followed her out to have a look at it and found it slightly over grown and in need of trimming but the one tree that desperately needed to come out would likely cause problems. Marco talked with the family living to the south of him to get their blessings and then returned to the widow next door to carefully dig up her cherished rose bushes and set them aside in burlap sacks to be replanted as soon as the tree was removed.

The next morning early, all of the guys from Station 51 plus a few other friends, arrived at Marco's new house. Both Johnny and Roy brought ropes and climbing harnesses and Roy and Cap each brought a chain saw. Chet brought a truck and trailer with a small backhoe on it. The men were just about to start climbing the tree when two large trucks pulled up followed by a van filled with several of Marco's relatives. There were at least thirty people on site ready to work.

John, Roy and Mike made use of a ladder on one of the trucks and were soon secured in the tree with ropes as Cap helped to tie off the chain saws that were then pulled up into the tree and the limbs started falling. Marco was going to let his uncle the landscaper deal with the other tree so that it would be properly shaped and cut back for the best future growth but the one that needed to come down he was more than willing to let his friends at the station have at it. Cap's main jobs was to do what he does best and orchestrate the activities in the tree while making sure the accumulating bystanders stayed back far enough to assure then didn't get hurt by a falling limb.

Chet was driving the back hoe and made short work of pulling all of the smaller weed trees as well as several of the overgrown and dying bushes out of the ground by their roots. All of this was loaded on the larger dump truck with the exception of what Uncle Juan thought was buried treasure. Unearthed with the weed trees was a large section of flower bulbs, long overdue to be divided but still very viable. Those were placed in a basket to be sorted out later. Several of Marco's relatives picked up pick axes and started beating them into the ground to loosen up the soil while others shoveled wheelbarrows of strong smelling manure and spread it around the yard to be mixed in using the pick axes. Once the removal was done men went to work digging holes for the new fence posts while others dug the trenches for the sprinkling system.

It was just after noon when they reached a good stopping point and Mama Lopez, with her daughter and daughter-in-law, arrived with lunch for everyone. After lunch the party moved to Johnny's house and then to Chet's. By late evening all three yards were cleared, and automatic sprinkler systems were laid and tested. After dark Marco was found working by flashlight to replant his neighbor's cherished Rose bushes, using copious amounts of the smelly manure to give them all a good start in their new planting.

When that job was done he nearly collapsed into a mound of softened dirt and slept till the first rays of daylight were seen.

Not wanting to wake his neighbors Marco took on the relatively quiet task of laying the framework for the new drive way and side walk before the rest of the crew arrived to install the new chain link fence. When he noticed his neighbors were awake, Marco took advantage of the fence being down to repair the side of the garage and applied two coats of paint.

Uncle Juan arrived with a truck load of flagstone he had been paid to remove from another home in a richer area so he could lay a brick patio. Marco was more than happy to have a flagstone patio put down especially when the stones were free to him. Uncle Juan also came with a large garbage can filled with moss that had been removed from another site and while he was expertly trimming the second tree, Marco directed the laying of his new patio and working moss around each of the placed stones. Part of the crew started at Chet's place with a large dump truck as carpeting was pulled up and any garbage in the houses was pulled out. They then moved to Johnny's house and did the same, ending up at Marco's house to gather the moldy carpet and old drapes that had been hauled out to the curb.

With the work load being lighter now and not as many pieces of big machinery in use, the neighborhood was starting to come out to introduce themselves and get acquainted with their new neighbor. Marco was quick to notice that most of the people first approached John, Chet or Cap to introduce themselves to.

Marco listened in as Johnny fielded questions from the lady with the roses.

"Are you the one who's going to be my new neighbor?" the woman asked.

"No ma'am," Johnny spoke respectfully as he paused from throwing carpeting and carpet pad into the dump truck. "I'm just helping out; your new neighbor is over there." John pointed to the group working to cover up the sprinkler system and get the area ready for planting. That group consisted of Marco, Cap and Roy, and John was sure the woman would be looking at Cap and Roy as her new neighbor but he took the opportunity to try and build up Marco before she noticed the color of his skin.

"Most of us here are firemen and we work together, I work at the same station with Marco and we're all helping each other out on our days off."

"Oooh," the woman was positively excited. "You mean the person who is moving in next door to me is a fireman, a real honest to goodness fireman?"

"Yes ma'am." Johnny smiled noticing the hero worship in the woman's voice.

"Well, no wonder you're all so big and strong," the woman positively cooed and even though she never touched Johnny he could feel her eyes running over his biceps. Too bad she wasn't a few decades younger.

"I sure hope he pays his gardener well. Did you know that man was in my back yard till nearly midnight replanting my husband's roses? Oh, and he took such special care to make sure they didn't get damaged by the work you're all doing here. And he even put in some extra special soil around their roots and did such a beautiful job."

"Yeah, that sounds like something Marco would do." Johnny commented knowing full well the lady had no idea who was moving in but hoped she'd warm up to her new neighbor.

With most of the heavy work done most of the guys moved over to Johnny's house to help him plant his grass and fill a couple of flower beds with the bulbs Uncle Juan had sorted out. John planned to pick up some annuals and plant them on his next day off so that the outside of the house would look showy even before the inside was finished. Before he went back to his apartment John stopped by to collect Marco.

"Hey, Marco, why don't you come home with me tonight? You'll get a lot better sleep on my fold out arm chair than you will on your mom's sofa and we both know you need a good night's sleep before you go on shift tomorrow." It was obvious that Marco had been living out of his truck and John was sure the tarp near the back of the house was where he planned to hide from the neighbors while he showered in the hose sometime after dark. John wanted to do more for his friend.

Just then a truck pulled up and John recognized Matt from C shift as one of the men that got out.

"John, I'd love to take you up on the offer but I really need to spend some time with these guys showing them where the new furnace and water heater goes so they can put them in while I'm on shift the next two days."

"That's okay, I'll wait." John noticed that Marco was extremely tired and he was afraid if he didn't wait for him that he'd just fall down on the ground somewhere and sleep for the night. He also knew that his new neighbors would not be pleased to find out he was camping on site before he got his house ready to move in.

Once Marco walked through the house pointing out where the water heater, furnace and air conditioner were to go and the wall that he wanted taken out and handing over a set of keys to his Matt and his Uncle whom he'd hired to do some of the work on the house while he was on duty. Marco gratefully followed John home.

John was quick to notice by the sound of the water in the shower being turned on then off and on again that Marco got good and wet then turned the water off and soaped up and scrubbed down good before turning the water back on to rinse off. John suspected he had been doing that a lot and had visions of a bag of water warmed in the sun as being his limit for a shower. Knowing how tired Marco was, John took the time he was in the shower to pull out the armchair bed and throw some clean sheets on it. He was just putting a fresh pillow case on an extra pillow when Marco came out of the bathroom wearing clean boxers and a t-shirt.

"Thanks, John, I really appreciate this." Marco stuffed his dirty clothes in the laundry bag that he carried in with his duffel bag before he sat down on the made up bed and nearly fell over.

"Hey, why don't you just stay here until your house is ready to move into," Johnny suggested but it was too late, Marco was already sound asleep.

Johnny threw a sheet over his friend and turned out the lights hoping his neighbors would be quiet tonight. They weren't, but Marco never noticed.


	10. Chapter 10

**For Want of a Roof**

Marco only worked two more shifts of overtime before the injured lineman was back on duty. He was relieved to have a little more time to work on the house but he was also relieved that his overtime pay went a long way when it came to paying for the work to be done on the house. It also meant there were a few extra nights a week that he was looking for someplace to sleep. Marco's plan of staying at his parent's place wasn't to be. One of his other brothers started having trouble with his wife and moved home for a while. At least Marco hoped it was just for a while but in any case the sofa he had planned to sleep on was no longer available.

Now that the heavy work was done, the three homeowners were finishing up the rest of the work on their own. Chet was now living with his sister, his furniture and stuff being stored in the second living quarters of his duplex until his side was fully renovated. His sister's apartment had a second bedroom and she worked all day so Chet was more willing to take a nap after work before starting on his house.

Johnny was moving as fast as he could on his house. He really had no desire to move into it, just to fix it up in a way that someone else would like and then sell it. That was why he chose the house that he felt had the least amount of work required to make it livable. The horse ranch was still the prize he wanted most and he felt pressure to hurry before someone else bought it.

They had all worked with Matt from C shift and his uncle. Since he was contracted to perform repairs at three different apartment buildings he was able to buy a few extra kitchen appliances on a mass order deal he worked out and that saved the three new home buyers a lot of money. It saved enough money to encourage each man to add an automatic dishwasher to their kitchens and to set up a laundry room in each house with washer and dryer hook ups.

Matt and his Uncle also gave Chet and Johnny a good deal on laying linoleum and carpeting. Marco was thrilled with the wooden floors that were found when the old carpeting was pulled up. He would be sanding that down and refinishing it. He had spent some time right out of high school laying tile and that's how he planned to finish the kitchen and bathrooms. He managed to save money by buying short stock supplies. The tile was perfectly good, but there wasn't enough quantity of any one color in the store to do any kind of a job. Marco took several colors and mixed them together in a random color design. He found he liked it and so did Johnny when he saw it after he stopped by one night. He knew Marco was sleeping in his truck and needed a softer bed and a hot shower. He had offered to let Marco stay with him until his house was ready but he had turned him down. Still, when he was tired at the end of a hard day's work and in need of a shower, Johnny was usually able to convince him to come home with him for the night. Since his house was just a block away from Marco's he made it a point to stop by on his way home every night. Sometimes Marco was in the middle of doing something, like laying tile and needing to get it done before the grout dried. Johnny helped when he could but there was a limit to tools and there was only room for one person at a time to work in the two bathrooms.

It was the snarl on the face of his apartment manager one night when he brought Marco home that explained Marco's reluctance to take him up on his offer. For Johnny's part, since he was hoping to sell his place again as soon as he had it ready to move into, he hadn't given his notice yet but he was expecting his manager to announce that he wouldn't renew his lease when it was up in four months.

The next time he stopped by to pick Marco up he ended up painting the walls of the kitchen with primer while he waited for Marco to finish placing tiles on the walls in the master bathroom. He noticed that all of the doors to the cupboards had been sanded down and wanted to ask Marco what he planned to do there. Stacked in the living room was the tile for the kitchen floor, gallons and gallons of paint, a few rolls of insulation that were yet to be installed and other construction supplies.

After their next shift Johnny planned to help Marco place the toilets and the place would almost be ready for Marco to move in. At least he would be able to take a shower at the house once the tile grout was dry. Well as soon as he put all the knobs and shower head on that is.

The next time A-Shift was on Hank got an interesting report from Captain Hookraider. As his men started filing into the locker room Hank took a break from his paperwork and wandered out to the parking lot. Carefully looking at the clouds that threatened to make for a very wet shift, Hank followed his information and walked over to his lineman's truck and carefully looked inside. In the bed of the pickup was a tarp and poles that had clearly been used to erect a tent over the bed. In the passenger section of the truck was a rolled up foam pad, a sleeping bag and a very full and slightly over flowing laundry bag. That morning was the first he had heard the rumors that Marco was living out of his truck and he was a little miffed that it had come from someone other than the men on his shift. The rumor did include details of how John was dragging his homeless crewmate home with him on occasion. Still, what Hank was seeing was that the man needed just a little more help. It would mean looking like he was playing favorites but neither Chet nor Johnny was showing the need that Marco was.

Roll call was taken care of and cleaning assignments were given out. Hank made a careful observation of his lineman during roll call. He looked tired but that was expected, he was sure the man was working himself as hard as he could and equally sure he wasn't sleeping well in the back of his truck. Hank was also troubled by the obvious sign that his belt was now two notches tighter.

As the men moved out to perform their duties, Hank entered his office and closed the door; he didn't want anyone to overhear the call he was about to make.

Two car accidents and a smoke alarm later, Roy and Mike were working together to get lunch on the table so Hank took advantage of the time and called Marco into the office.

"So how's the house coming?" Hank asked as he slid into his chair while pointing Marco to another.

"Good, Cap, real good. It shouldn't be long now before I can actually live there."

"I know you're getting your mail at the new place but where are you living in the mean time?" Hank watched as Marco had trouble answering. "I thought so. Hookraider commented that you came in early this morning and took a shower before going out to get something to eat, your truck looks like you're living in it."

"John's had me over to his place a couple of times. I don't think his manager approves though." Marco hung his head in embarrassment.

"Don't be ashamed, Marco, you really are doing yourself proud under circumstances that are beyond your control and due to the bigotry of others. Now tell me just how long before you'll have running water, a working bath and a bed to sleep on under your roof?"

"The game plan is to finish the bathroom's, get the painting done and the tile in the kitchen this break. And then Matt from C Shift and his Uncle are going to stain and varnish my wood floors. After that cures, providing I get everything done, I'm hoping to be able to move in by the next break." Marco took in a deep breath and let it out. "I was wondering if there was a chance of me working overtime for a few days between my next two shifts?"

"You've already pulled the maximum amount of overtime recommended this month. Is it the money you're needing or something else?"

"Well, sir, it's just that it will take a full week for the varnish on the wood floor to cure. I won't be able to walk on it and the fumes will be pretty strong for a few days."

Hank leaned back and took on a thoughtful pose. "In that case, request denied. I'd like you to consider yourself my house guest until your house is ready to move into. I've already talked it over with my wife and she's looking forward to having you. Before you go thanking me however, I might warn you that we have a room in the basement that is full of old furniture and my wife is not above asking you to help clear it out. You're more than welcome to anything you think you can use in your new house."

Marco's expression was both embarrassed and grateful. "Thank you sir."

"Other than Matt and his Uncle, are you getting any other help? I mean, I know Gage and Kelly are busy with their own projects right now but don't you have family to help you paint and such."

Marco hung his head again and blew out a deep breath, "Not really, Cap. My brothers and a couple of cousins offered but their help came with strings attached."

"What kind of strings?" Hank had a guess but he needed to know if he was right.

"If they help they want to be able to move in with me. They don't expect to pay rent or anything like that and they're all a little to frequent at the liquor store and throwing parties if you know what I mean."

"I understand completely. I also suspect they're trying to make you feel like a real heel for not welcoming them with open arms."

"Yeah, something like that." Marco's head was still hung low.

"Well in my opinion if they want to live in a house they need to get a good job and learn how to pay for it," Cap validated his lineman, he was actually glad he was stepping away from his family a little. But he also knew it was a painful prospect.

"One more thing before I let you out of here. Before you leave this station in the morning I want that laundry bag on the floor board of your truck in my truck. My wife has already agreed to wash them up and have them in the guest room for you. And that is an order. Do you have enough clean underwear for this shift?"

Hank had never noticed Marco blush before but he was positively red at the moment.

"Yes sir, I bought some new ones before shift this morning."

-0-

The shift was nearing the end the next morning and Hank hadn't noticed a laundry bag in his truck when he checked. "Lopez," he hollered across the bay. "Remember my order from yesterday. Before you leave today," he said sternly.

Hank kept things cryptic on purpose but he did intend to have that man's laundry when he got home.

When Marco left the station he found Cap standing in the doorway watching him. Sighing in submission, Marco walked around his truck and pulled the overstuffed laundry bag out and, after looking around in hopes that no one was watching him, he slipped it into the back of Captain Stanley's truck. It smelled strong enough that he didn't want to put it in the cab even if it was raining out.

Near lunch time a truck pulled up in front of Marco's house and running through the rain toward the back door were Hank Stanley and his two boys. Hank was carrying his wife's picnic basket and it was full. "We thought you could use some help," Hank said as he wiped his feet on the well worn welcome mat under the covered portion of the back porch. "I know you can use some lunch."

Marco had just finished sealing the grout in two of the three bathrooms and really did need some help lifting the toilets into place.

After eating a lunch of Bacon avocado sandwiches and two different salads, Hank helped Marco lift the heavy toilet and bathroom sinks into place and watched the practiced hands install them. Then there were the knobs and shower fixtures, all of which took just a little over an hour with Hank's help.

"Don't tell my wife I said this but that didn't look all that hard. I might be able to do that myself."

"I heard that," one of the boys called from the living room where the two of them were working together to tape old newspaper to the windows in preparation for painting.

"Oh yeah, well if you tell your mother, she'll think of some reason for me to try out my new found skills and you'll end up helping me so if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut," Hank not so jokingly called back to his sons.

"Now I finally have a place to take a shower and get cleaned up." Marco sighed as he leaned back and took in his work.

"You're still staying at my place until all the fumes are cleared out around here." Hank pushed his command beyond the station. The two men made short work of the water they were drinking, and then Hank spoke again. "Okay, what's next?"

Marco smiled at his captain who was now a friend. "If all goes as planned, before I go back on shift I need to finish the indoor painting, lay the kitchen and laundry tile and get everything off of the wood floors."

Hank looked at Marco, the list did indeed seem short, but then he looked at the pile of supplies stacked on top of a tarp in the middle of the living room. "Well, I have no intentions of learning how to lay tile. My wife already has one of those projects that she'd love to think I know how to do for her. I have however, already mastered the art of painting. Come on boys I'm about to show you the art of working with a roller. Marco, I assume you can handle the tile detail."

Marco started to chuckle, "Spoken like a true captain." Marco had already painted the kitchen and laundry area walls in preparation of laying tile boarders over the top of the paint.

Marco took a minute to set out the paint colors in each room then started laying out the tile.

Hank's sons were mentioning that it was dinner time when Hank next took time to take stock of what they had accomplished for the day. The three bedrooms now had two coats of paint each and all that was left to paint were the two rooms that had been combined to create a great room/entry area. Hank was thinking that was a good job for tomorrow. He headed in to inform his lineman that it was time to call it a night when he noticed he was way too close to finishing up the kitchen floor to stop now. The three Stanley men each sat on a bucket of paint and waited for Marco to work the tile into the corners and around the base cupboards.

He was just about done when Maggie Stanley came by with her two girls, each one carrying something to eat. When the boys opened the door for her to walk in she entered calling out compliments.

"I must say, Marco, the new lawn looks so good, you're going to have to mow it before you know it. Do you have a lawn mower on your list of things to get for the new house?"

"Yes ma'am, Marco called out from where he had his head stuck in the space where the dishwasher was going to be placed. "There's one in the garage, it's not the newest of machines but it will do."

Since Marco had placed the last tile needed in the kitchen and the floor needed to dry for a while before he added the grout, and since Maggie Stanley wanted to see Johnny's house too while she was in the neighborhood, they packed up the food again and drove the short distance to Johnny's house to share the meal with him.

-0-

Johnny was working on his house, he had just managed to put up the last of the paint in the last room and before he left for the night he was installing the door knobs to the doors he had painted on his last off shift break. He had been pulled away by a knocking at the door and as he walked to answer it he was asking himself who on earth that could be?

He pulled the paper away from the window to see who was there. Standing at the door were a man and a woman that he had never seen before, but they looked harmless enough so he opened the door.

"Can I help you?"

"Well, um, actually," the man stammered and Johnny stepped back a little doing his best not to intimidate the man any further. "I'm sorry if we're disturbing you, but one of the neighbors said that they believed you were fixing up this place with plans to sell it again."

Johnny was surprised by this and paused for a second before answering.

"I'm sorry," the man continued to stammer, "I'm Paul Hastings. My mother lives across the street and, well, I've just retired and we wanted to move closer to my mother so we can help out and be here for her."

"Our children also live in this area now and, well, when we heard that you were planning to sell the house we, well, I hope we're not giving you the wrong idea, the woman added to the awkward conversation.

John let out a relieved sigh, "Well, actually I am planning to sell the place once I get it fixed up. Things aren't finished yet but if you'd like to come in and look around you're welcome." Johnny opened the door wider and gestured for them to come in. "I've just finished painting so be careful, the walls are still wet."

Johnny walked through the house with the couple pointing out the work he had done and giving details about what was yet to be done. The three of them talked over the asking price which Johnny had set a little high with a substantial increase over what he'd paid and put into it. He figured that they'd make a lower offer and he was willing to go a little lower. Johnny then let them look about on their own while he returned to his task of placing new door knobs on every door.

While the couple was looking around two trucks and a car pulled up in front of the house and a family of five gathered together on the side walk while another man stood off to the side.

"Oh, look at those flowers," Maggie Stanley exclaimed. "They're all in bloom and the lawn is so well established here. The house is the perfect color, and look at those shutters, this place looks like something right out of a magazine."

"I'm glad you like it, Mrs. Stanley," Hank teased his wife, "I guess we better go right in there and make an offer on the place before someone else comes along and buys it out from under us."

Of course Hank was joking; the Stanley home was bigger than the one John was fixing up and they had no intention of moving, but when the Hastings heard that chatter on the front walk they sought out Johnny immediately and made an offer above his asking price for the place and when Hank and his family and friend made their way inside they found Johnny telling the couple that they should pick out the carpeting that they liked best and he'd have it installed.

-0-

The prepared meal was shared with both Marco and Johnny as they ate out on the back deck that Johnny had built. Then Marco was taken back to the Stanley residence and shown to the guest room. Before he turned in for the night Marco looked at his captain and host. "Where's this tile job your wife wants done?"

"You don't need to worry about it, Marco, I figure we'll get it done with our income tax this year," Hank was feeling a little embarrassed, but Marco pushed so Hank led him to the basement where they had put in two bedrooms for the boys and had a bathroom roughed in. "As you can see we have the commode but we have to tile in the shower before we can use it."

Marco walked around and tapped on the four walls before asking the extent of the tile they wanted. He then offered, "If you'll pick out the tile you want I can get it laid while I'm waiting for the wood floors to cure at my place."

After taking some measurements and writing down the amount of tile that would be needed Marco talked with Hank and his wife. He made a few recommendations and suggested a few stores to check out and then accepted the offer of a shower and headed for his room.

The next time Marco was heard was when he emerged from the guest room early the next morning, dressed and ready to get back to work. He still had the tile in the laundry area to lay and then grout them all. Hank persuaded him to eat some breakfast before he left and promised that he and his sons would be there before noon to finish painting the living room.

Before they all left that night Hank and his boys helped move the last of the construction supplies up into the attic where they were to be used. The only problem was that due to the turn in the stairs and the low ceiling at one point all of the plywood and plasterboard had to be taken outside and up a ladder so that it could be brought in through a door that led to a balcony. Marco showed them around a place that was potentially a studio apartment before making it clear that he was in no hurry to finish the place up at this point because he wasn't in the mood for guests or renters just yet.

They all took one more walk through the house and Hank knew the next time Marco came here it would be to move in. He couldn't have been happier for his lineman; he would soon have a place to call his own.


	11. Chapter 11

**Friends, Family, and Neighbors **

The next shift turned out to be a long one. There was nothing really serious just endless call after call of minor nuisance calls, including five trash fires during the night making them late getting off duty. Hank was even later getting his paperwork done for the shift but before he left the station he called home to make sure Marco had arrived. His wife reported that he had just pulled up in front of the house.

When Hank got home he found that Marco had gone out for breakfast before arriving at his house so that his wife wouldn't feel she had to feed him. He was ready to fall over on his bed, sure he'd be asleep before he hit his pillow, but he wasn't surprised to see his guest already at work in the bathroom. Hank wanted to have a talk with the young man and make sure he knew he wasn't the family slave but Hank couldn't even as much as get close to him as his whole family was gathered around the doorway to the bathroom watching Marco's work with awe and more than a little interest.

Hank soon found himself leaning against the wall to keep himself standing as he watched a master at work. He soon felt his children against his feet as they sat down on the floor to continue watching

By lunch time all of the tile was in place. Since Hank had already instructed his wife to make double the amount she usually made, Hank was able to pile Marco's plate high and then brush off a hefty second helping of everything once Marco had cleared his first plate.

When lunch was finished Hank ordered Marco to take a nap and not to do anything more on the bathroom until the next day. It was clear this was not a hardship for Marco when, several hours later, it took Hank a good ten minutes to wake him up for dinner.

By the time Hank was awake the next morning Marco was ready for his help to replace the facilities and hang the shower door. Before the day was over Maggie had paraded most of the neighborhood through to see Marco's handy work and he was offered several other small jobs. Five were easy repair jobs to replace cracked or broken tile and four of them were simple entryway flooring. Marco was able to do all of them that night and all of them paid him in good quality second hand furniture or kitchen appliances, something he needed. One job was a coffee table top; they wanted it to look like a picture they had taken from a motel they had stayed at once. That gave Marco ideas.

When Marco arrived for work on his next shift he was greeted at the door to the locker room by a smiling captain. "Someone from C shift broke three tiles in the shower; I told headquarters I know someone who might be able to repair it for them."

Marco just sighed in resolution and hurried in to see the damage done in the shower, his captain had been joking, there was no damage to be repaired.

-0-

At the end of the shift Marco, Chet and Johnny were quick to leave the station. Chet because he still had things at his house to finish before the major appliances were delivered, Marco because he had a storage unit to empty and close out before his delivery was made. They all assumed Johnny was in a hurry for the same reason.

Marco had just moved the last of the items from the back of his truck and set them in the closed in back porch when the sound of a truck pulling up caught his attention. He was surprised to see his captain getting out of his truck with his two oldest boys since he had told him he would come and pick up his stuff and all the things he had been given that afternoon.

Before Marco made his way out to greet his captain Mike pulled up with his truck filled with furniture and Johnny was right behind him with a mattress and box springs tied to the top of his Rover.

Even though there were three trucks full of stuff it was really just one sofa, an arm chair, a few lamps and small tables, toaster, blender, coffee maker and a much nicer kitchen table than had been in Marco's other apartment. There was also a bed frame to go with the mattress Johnny brought.

With everyone helping, it took the men less than half an hour to unload the trucks. Even with the furniture, the place still looked quite empty. The boys however were quick to kick off their shoes and slide across the newly finished wood floors in their socks.

The neighbors were quick to notice a moving party and came out to meet their new neighbor. One woman brought a casserole, another a loaf of fresh baked bread, but most of them just came to introduce themselves.

Marco was quick to notice that the first four neighbors to come to the house went to Hank first; clearly they thought he was the new resident. When Hank pointed to Marco, one man exclaimed, "Oh, I thought he was just the person making the repairs."

The next two neighbors approached Roy and the two after that approached Mike first. Marco wasn't the least bit surprised that when his friends left he was receiving questioning glances from behind mostly drawn blinds and drapes.

Marco felt strange sleeping in his new bed. As he lay there trying to go to sleep he made a mental note of the things he'd need to buy the next day.

Early the next morning Marco got up and made a fast run to the grocery store to get the staples he would need along with and a good supply of canned goods to fill his cupboards. He had always believed in keeping a few cans of soup around for that meal you were just too tired to fix from scratch. He then stopped at a department store for a set of dishes and pots and pans along with some towels and a change of sheets for his bed.

By noon he was home with everything put a way and nothing that needed to be done. He tried to watch TV for a while but ended up out in the garage tuning up the lawnmower.

Johnny spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches to his house in preparation of turning it over to the new owners. As he vacuumed the newly laid carpeting and washed the windows, his thoughts were on his friend Marco. He was glad that the station crew had all come out to support him but he had also noticed who wasn't there to help with the moving. "Just what's going on between you and your family Marco?"

The first time the phone rang when it wasn't a wrong number, turned out to be Matt. He and his Uncle had a big tile job to bid on and they wondered if he'd help them. It sounded better than hanging around the house watching the neighbors watching him and wondering what they were thinking. Just like at the Stanley's, one job turned into another, and then yet another. Marco didn't mind much; it only turned out to be one day a week and they did all the prep work so that all he had to do was lay the tile. It was easy money and he got a lot of ideas on how to fix up his attic into a little apartment. That wasn't something he needed or even wanted at the moment but it would increase the value of the house if he decided to sell and move on.

Two weeks later Marco had found a place for everything he owned and made a note of furniture he wanted to buy as time and money permitted. He'd had no further contact with any of his neighbors. He was beginning to think he should finish fixing the place up and put it up for sale again as he put up the new garage door.

As he was working one of the boys from next door started to talk to him. "Someone said you were a fireman?"

"Yes, I am." Marco welcomed the friendly conversation.

"Do you drive the fire truck or just work with the hoses?"

"Mostly just work with the hoses," Marco responded and could tell he hadn't raised himself in the boys eyes much with that response.

The conversation came to an end when his mother called from the house telling him to come inside.

That night he finally called his parents and invited them over for dinner and to see his new place but they were clearly offended when he said he really wanted to have a quiet dinner with just them and not all of the relatives, too.

"Mom, I really don't have enough furniture and there isn't enough parking here for everyone; maybe later on when we can have an outside barbeque."

When they'd hung up several possible days had been set aside for the get together but nothing had been set in stone.

On his next shift, the station was called out to a fire at a bread factory. Because flour is very explosive when it's in dust form he had managed to get blown off the dock when such a flash happened while they were getting a man out. Marco managed to wrench his shoulder good in the explosion. Nothing serious, but the doctor felt he needed a couple of days in a sling before it was safe for him to be wrestling a hose again. Hank worried when Marco didn't want to call a family member to come drive him home. He even offered to let Marco just sleep in the dorm the last few hours of the shift so that Johnny could run him home but Marco assured his captain that he hadn't taken anything for the pain and was okay to drive, the doctor just didn't want him pulling hose until his shoulder had some time to heal. Hank reluctantly agreed then asked Marco to call him when he got home.

It was a quarter to six in the morning when Marco pulled onto his street. He was quick to notice the six police cars with their lights flashing and it didn't take him long to figure out that they were at his house.

He parked his truck across the street and walked through the crowd of gathering neighbors.

"The man just moved in less than a month ago. I'm willing to put up with a loud party once in a while as long as it shuts down at a decent hour but this party has gone on all night. I just can't take it anymore," Marco heard his next door neighbor telling the police officer. Marco just moved on to the house getting angrier with each step he took until he was stopped by one of the police officers that was standing outside the house.

"This is my house," Marco was quick to explain when he was stopped from entering. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"

That's when Marco looked through the window and noticed two of his brothers, the two that were still living at home, several of his cousins and others from the neighborhood. His brother who was temporarily separated from his wife had another woman sitting on his lap as the police talked to them.

Once the neighbor confirmed he was the one who lived there and Marco explained he was a fireman and had just gotten off duty, the police knew what they had on their hands and allowed Marco to enter the house. As he stepped in his brothers were quick to start talking to him in Spanish and it was even clearer that they were drunk.

The claim was that they had come by to celebrate his new house but he wasn't there so they let themselves in. After all, he wasn't using the place at the moment.

Marco knew very well that they had seen the days he was going to be home on their mother's fridge and had planned to make use of his house when he wasn't home. As he looked around he was sure there were drugs in use and he questioned how old some of the guests, especially some of the girls, were.

There were over thirty people in his house and the place was a shambles. Tequila bottles, beer bottles and cans were scattered all over the place and food was left half eaten and spilled as a bunch of rowdy drunks had gotten into a wrestling match and knocked over a couple of his lamps and broken them. When he walked through the house to find that someone had broken a window in his back door to let themselves in, Marco was livid.

"It's your call, Mr. Lopez," the police officer spoke at his side. "No one is fit to drive. Do you want us to haul them in or would you rather they stay here and sleep it off? There are grounds for trespassing charges to be filed also."

Up until now Marco hadn't said a word but that was about to change. "Yes," Marco growled under his breath as he noticed two people passed out in his back yard. "I'll press charges and I want them all out of here. Their cars, too."


	12. Chapter 12

**Mending, furniture, family ties and bridges.**

Marco's injured shoulder was really hurting as he worked to clean up the mess made by his brothers and so called friends. This is what he had expected to come home to every time if he had allowed his brothers to move in with him. Neither had a job to help out with expenses; their lives were, for the most part, one party after another. He was sure last night was a 'we'll provide the place and all the guests provided the refreshments' type of arrangement.

While they were at home, Mama made them get up every morning and help out around the house but he knew he wouldn't be able to do that while he was at the station and he himself slept during the day after a busy night on shift.

As he hauled a large garbage bag of empty bottles to his dumpster with his good arm, Marco became aware of the mess that had been left in the yard as well as the smell of urine in the bushes.

After going to the police station to file charges for breaking and entering, Marco stopped short of filing charges for vandalizing. He was late getting home and with everything that was going on had completely forgotten to call the Captain to let him know he made it home without any problems.

Now his thoughts were on his family. His parents had arrived at the police station while he was still there; they were clearly very unhappy with him for filing charges. "How can you do this to family?" they had asked, speaking in Spanish. Marco was sure they thought the police around them didn't know what they were saying but Marco knew some of them well enough to know they understood every word just as well as he did.

Since Marco hadn't called to say he had gotten home alright and he hadn't answered the phone when Cap called, Johnny had been asked to check on him. He arrived just as Marco was hauling the forth garbage bag full of debris out and setting it down next to the now filled garbage can. It looked like it was going to take a couple of weeks to get the trash hauled away. Johnny just stood in front of his friend and looked around at the carnage that had been left.

"My brothers invited themselves and a few of their friends to a party at my place last night," Marco offered as an explanation.

Johnny could tell that Marco was hurting and went into paramedic mode; Marco was placed back in his arm sling and given his medication. Johnny then quickly changed the sheets on his bed and got it ready for him to get into before he started a load of laundry and helped mop up the floors. Marco finished picking up outside, one handed, and hosed down the bushes after adding some sweet smelling soap to the plants and grass in the area.

As he sprayed the area down he noticed some of the neighbors looking at him over the fence. It was clear they weren't happy about what happened and he couldn't blame them.

Once John was done, he managed to push Marco into his bedroom and into bed. He then called Cap and told him what little he knew and about the mess that was left behind. He then took measurements for the broken window and, after checking on Marco and believing him to be asleep, Johnny slipped out to the hardware store to purchase some new glass.

-0-

Marco had heard Johnny talking to someone on the phone and from the tone of his voice he was pretty sure it was Cap. He heard the phone being hung up and then the footsteps coming in his direction. Marco really didn't want to talk right now so he just closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing slow and shallow. He heard the door to his room open, he felt his friend's eyes evaluating him from a distance, and then he heard the door close softly once again.

Once the door to his room was closed Marco gave a count of ten and then sat up. Listening closely he could hear the front door open and close and then John's loose muffler as he drove away. After a moment of solemn thought Marco put on a resolve not to let his family get him down and since he really didn't feel like sleeping he decided to see if there was any hope of salvaging the broken lamps.

On the work bench along one wall of the garage Marco sorted out the broken pieces. Two of the three broken lamps were actually in a countable number of pieces. Shrugging out of his arm sling Marco found a tube of epoxy and started gluing the pieces back together.

Marco was holding two pieces of one broken lamp together until the glue dried enough to continue to hold after he let go, when he heard something going on next door. Since what he was doing was busy work and not very mind challenging Marco found himself listening to a couple of boys talking amongst themselves.

Between going over in his mind what he wanted to say to his brothers after he cooled down a little more, Marco became aware that two or three boys were experimenting with cigarettes in the shed next door. His thoughts quickly shifted to what he should do with his new found knowledge. As much as he felt the parents should know so that they could properly intervene in the young boys lives he questioned if they'd believe him and wondered how best to let them know. He had just heard one boy tell another to drop his used cigarette into an empty gas can when he sprang into action.

Marco was actually flying over the fence when he heard the "_whoosh"_ of fire taking off just a breath ahead of one of the boys screaming.

Marco yanked the shed door open to see stunned faces on two boys and the third one's coat sleeve on fire.

"Get out of here!" Marco shouted at the first two boys as he tackled the third to the ground and used his body to smother the flames on his coat.

It was the slam of a broomstick across his injured shoulder that first alerted Marco of the mother in his presence. The second contact was to the back of his head, but before she was able to make contact again Marco was able to take hold of the broomstick in his strong good hand and look at the mother. "I need that garden hose turned on quickly!"

The woman stood frozen in terror. It wasn't until Marco was able to grab the broom from her hands and throw it away that she saw the fire in the shed. It took her another moment before she noticed the burning coat of one of her son's playmates.

"Ma'am I need the hose over there, quickly!" Marco repeated as he tried to pull the still smoldering coat from the boy's body to prevent further burning.

It took the mother two painfully long breaths before she was able to respond but she hurried to the hose and brought it back with the water running from it. Marco reached for it at the soonest possible instant and immediately started soaking down the young boys arm. When he was sure the coat was well saturated he was able to get it off the burned arm, grateful that none of the boy's skin seemed to come with the coat. Unfortunately the coat lining was made of a nylon material and some of it had melted to the boy's skin. Marco knew enough to just keep the water on the area and cool it down as much as possible.

The fire continued to rage in the shed. "Ma'am, I need you to go inside and call the fire department, tell them to send a squad and an ambulance," Marco instructed as he pulled one of the other two boys over and instructed him how to hold the hose on his friend's arm.

"Ma'am," Marco repeated, his voice was urgent but still gentle, "I need you to go inside and call the fire department, can you do that for me?"

The woman gave a hesitant nod of her head, her eyes were still wide with shock and locked on the boy on the ground. "Tell them to bring an ambulance and a, what was that other thing you said you needed?"

"A squad, please hurry." Marco repeated his instructions. "You just keep running this water on your friend's arm," Marco told one of the boys before he motioned the other toward him.

Marco's hands and the side of his chest were burned from smothering the flames on the injured boy but he still had a fire to get out. He took the third boy in his good arm and lifted him over the fence. "Go get my hose over there, turn it on and bring it back to me!"

The boy looked at Marco in fear for just a second then did as he was told. "Should I take this nozzle off?" He asked as he brought the hose to the man giving instructions.

"NO," Marco reached for the hose when it was still a full arms length away. "Go back and turn the water on as far as it will go."

Marco felt the water pressure increase as he turned the simple gardening nozzle to a fog and started to knock down the flames that had now worked their way through a couple of boxes and were starting to eat into the structure of the shed. As he worked his skill to get the fire out, he kept talking to the boy with the other hose and instructing him to keep the water running on his friend's arm.

The first siren Marco heard was to the police car that responded. The squad was just a block behind him and the engine right behind them. Marco breathlessly directed first the police officer and then the paramedics to the boy on the ground before turning to the responding Captain. "I think a reel hose should finish the fire off."

Marco was being pulled toward the paramedics a few short moments later. The man with the white stripe on his helmet had seen the burns on Marco's hands and the shirt burnt away from a red welt on his chest.

Marco was just waving one of the paramedics away saying he could wait when John came running up his driveway and then flying over the fence.

All of the paramedics recognized John Gage as one of their own, and he was soon in charge of evaluating Marco. Marco was seated in a nearby lawn chair where his hands and side were bandaged. Both were second degree burns. While checking him out John found the bruises made by the broom handle and questioned Marco how he'd gotten them. Marco wouldn't say.

The police officer came over and started asking Marco what had happened. John was able to pull Marco's identification out of his pants pocket for the officer to see since Marco's hands were bandaged. Marco then told the story of how he had overheard the boys talking while he was trying to fix a lamp in his garage. .

It wasn't missed on Marco that the police officer actually looked in the garage in question to see the lamps in progress of being repaired.

When all was cleaned up and the police had the information they needed for their report, John took Marco to Rampart in his Rover. Once they were there he gave Cap call. He then called Marco's parents.

John had spent some time in the Lopez home while recovering from one of his many injuries. He just hoped that the friendship he had developed with Marco's mother at that time would allow him to get away with some of the things he wanted to say.

By the time Cap arrived at the hospital to check on his lineman, Marco had told Dr. Morton in confidence about being hit with the broom stick. He made it clear that the woman was just protecting her children and that he didn't want any charges brought or any other mention of it outside that treatment room. The doctor wanted a new set of x-rays on the shoulder and while he was at it he had a skull series done. The burns were only second degree but they were painful and with the combination of injuries Dr. Morton chose to error on the side of caution and asked that Marco hang around the hospital to be observed for at least an hour before he was allowed to go home. And then he was only allowed to go home after John agreed to stay with him because Marco was going to need a lot of help for a few days since both of his hands were heavily bandaged.

As Marco rode home from the hospital in Johnny's rover he started thinking, "John, I'll just sleep on the sofa, you can have my bed tonight."

"No, you need your bed so you can get the rest you need. Besides it's going to be too hard to support your shoulder with the extra pillows if you're on the couch. If it's alright with you I'll just pull the mattress out of the back here and set it on the floor in one of your other bedrooms."

"I guess that works." Marco wasn't really feeling that great but at least the pain meds were keeping his numerous aches and pains to a dull roar. "I guess maybe we better stop someplace and pick up some extra pillows. I don't really have that sort of thing around my house."

It just so happened that there was a department store on the next block so they picked up several more pillows and pillowcases as well as some extra blankets. When Johnny reached Marco's drive way there were several extra cars parked on the street.

"Oh great, the neighbors are going to think I'm throwing another loud, all night party."

"Yeah, but they'll figure out otherwise pretty soon."

Marco looked at all the cars and recognized Chet's and Mike's, along with Captain Stanley's car and Captain Stanley's wife's car. He also recognized his parents' car.

John noticed Marco starting to tense up as he pulled into the driveway and saw Cap and Marco's father talking in the area of the garbage bags piled in excess around the garbage can. His mother and Mrs. Stanley were standing near the front door each holding something that looked to be food related. Mike and Chet were each holding something that looked to be food also.

"Is all that garbage from your brothers' party last night?" Papa Lopez approached his son before he was helped from the car.

"Yes, Papa."

"Well, if my sons can buy that much booze they can start paying rent." The man spoke disgustedly as he walked by his son's side.

"Are they still in Jail?" Marco questioned feeling both guilt and justified.

"No," Momma Lopez answered quickly, "We called Uncle Ernesto, he arranged for their bail."

Marco's eyes opened wide with understanding as it was quickly explained that Uncle Ernesto owned farm land and the boys, both Marco's brothers and several of his cousins, were bailed out but they would be expected to work off their bail at wages less than their uncle usually paid his workers. They would also be given work to earn whatever money they would need to pay any fines they were given. All of it hard back breaking labor. Papa Lopez, it was discovered, was making a list of damages and collecting receipts for the damages done to Marco's home. He was including a healthy sum for cleaning expenses to the deal.

"I see you remember your summer working for Uncle Ernesto, the year you ran your motorcycle into his car." Marco's father picked up on the look on his son's face. "Perhaps we should have sent your brothers to him before now."

Since Marco's hands were bandaged Johnny retrieved his keys and opened his door. Marco stood back waiting for everyone to enter and as they did his eyes were on the neighbor's house

Once everyone was inside Marco turned to his Captain, "There's something I need to do, make yourselves at home and I'll be back in just a minute or two."

Marco took a couple of steps off the front porch and toward his neighbor's house.

"Here, let me come with you," Johnny offered.

"NO, it will be better if I do this alone."

Alone, Marco walked to the neighbor's front door, he had both hands bandaged and his right arm in a sling tied to his chest, with each step he took he was preparing himself for the pain of knocking with his burned hands but he was determined. When he arrived on the front step he was happy to see a doorbell that he could easily ring with his bandaged hands.

Once he rang he waited for what he thought was an extraordant amount of time. He did see the drapes pulled back for someone to look out to see who was there. Marco chose to wait patiently without ringing again. When the door opened the husband was standing there with his wife hiding behind him.

"Look, I'm sorry that my wife hit you but she thought-"

"That I was hurting her children," Marco finished the man's sentence in a tone that showed he held no ill feelings toward the woman. "I have no doubt that was how things looked to her; I completely understand and I don't want you to worry about it anymore, ma'am."

The couple was stunned by his words.

"The reason I'm here is to let you know that the loud party at my place last night was thrown by my brothers in my absence. I wanted to let you know that they did not have my permission to be there and that things are being done to deter them from doing that again.

The husband and wife remained stunned as the children, two boys and a girl, came to peak around their father. "I um, I'm glad to hear that. I mean I don't want to be an ogre but it was a school night and no one could sleep and we really had no way of knowing if whatever was going on over there was even legal."

"I understand," Marco continued to speak calmly, "I will do the best I can to see to it that is doesn't happen again. I do like to throw parties from time to time but I promise you that before I do I will let you know beforehand."

Marco then glanced toward his house to see Johnny and Captain Stanley still standing on his porch watching him. A new car took the next possible parking space down the street and Roy got out taking time to pull something that looked like food from the car before shutting the door. Marco then turned back to his neighbors. "I would like to invite you over to meet my parents and my friends from the fire station. They're the only ones I would want to be at my home for any reason when I'm not. I thought that if you met them you would know when to call the police, or if you would like I can give you the phone number to the station so you could call me there to report someone in my house."

The family was again surprised as was evident by the look on their faces. The Husband turned to look at his family which had ventured out from behind him a little.

"I would like you to know," the father began to speak humbly, "that we really appreciate what you did today. The doctors told the parents of the boy who was burned that things could have been a lot worse if you hadn't been there and done what you did. They said he could have easily needed his arm amputated if you hadn't gotten to him and got the fire out as fast as you did. I want you to know," the father glowered at his boys, "that things are being done here to assure you won't be needed in a similar situation in the future."

Marco smiled but remained on the porch; there was yet another question to be answered.

"Um, those people at your house now are they your parents and the friends that you would like us to meet?"

"Yes sir, if you have the time."

"Sure, it would be good to get to know your family, especially if we can prevent something like what happened last night." There was a pause as they weren't sure what to do next, "Should we just follow you over there?"

"That would be great," Marco smiled. "I don't know how you feel about Mexican food, but Momma's been cooking. . . if you'd rather not just let me know and I'll make sure she doesn't force feed you."

The mother stepped forward at that point, "I guess it would be alright as long as it's not too spicy."

"I'll be sure to warn you the dishes to stay away from." Marco smiled back in understanding and the family then fell in behind him as he lead the way back to his house. They were just at the end of the side walk when Marco turned to the family. "I'll take you in and introduce you around, and then I'd like to go next door and invite Mrs. Farnsworth over to meet everyone as well."

"I'll go get her," one of the boys offered. "She hasn't stopped talking about how you're a fireman and all or about how her roses are growing better than they have in years since you took care of them."

Before Marco could respond the boy was half way there so he just smiled and proceeded to lead his neighbors over to meet his friends and family.

Marco had just finished the first round of introductions when the second boy returned with holding Mrs. Farnsworth's arm. John was quick to notice the way her eyes ran over his muscles again and simply gave her a nervous smile when he was introduced. With so little furniture the station crew quickly excused themselves, but not before the Stanley boys taught the neighbor children the art of sliding across Marco's floors in their socks. Something that was even more fun after most of the guests left leaving more room to slide. Roy helped Johnny move the mattress from his rover to one of the other bedrooms so that Marco's mother and father could sleep on it. Momma Lopez was going to be watching over her son until the bandages came off of his hands.

-0-

In the weeks to come, Marco was able to lead all of the children from his new neighborhood on a tour of the fire station and they all thought he was really cool from then on. Marco no longer felt the eyes of the neighbors watching his every move and he more often found himself talking about the weather, the gardens and whatever else was the topic of the day with his neighbors. His next door neighbors went from Ma'am and Sir to Pam and Wes.

When he held an outdoor house warming party all of the neighbors were warned ahead of time and they were all invited to attend. Many of them did.

Two of his relatives each gave him cats for a house warming gift and Marco ended up paying one of his neighbors to come in and feed them when he was at the station. His new house was no longer just a house to him; he had finally found a home, not just a place to live. For the first time in his life he was no longer 'trapped' by his heritage, but he could still enjoy his family and their traditions now that ground rules had been set.

Chet finally finished up one side of his duplex and he and his sister moved in together. Living on site made it easier for him to get the rest of the place finished and both he and his sister were much happier once they had their own kitchen and bathroom.

Johnny actually got the horse ranch for little more than his original bid, but that turned out to be an involved deal with a few surprises. But that's a story all its own.


End file.
